Suncoast Waste Water Management

30/10/2024

Mal Close waste water management pioneer
Waste water management pioneer to open offices nationally

2 min read
May 29, 2007 - 12:01PM
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Mal Close waste water management pioneer to open offices nationally.

Mal Close waste water management pioneer to open offices nationally.
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In hindsight, it probably seemed an obvious move for Mal Close to set up his own waste-water management company back in 1983.

He was working for Maroochy Council at the time and his main role was to oversee the management of privately owned and run sewage treatment plants like the one at the Surfair resort at Marcoola.

He created Suncoast Waste Water Management (SWWM), and not surprisingly, Surfair was his biggest client.

Business went well for several years until the council sewered the resort.

Fortunately for Mr Close, losing his biggest client was a blessing in disguise.

“I ended up selling the treatment plant to a coal mining company in north Queensland ... not only that, they got me to build three more,” he said.

When he got back to the Coast in 1993, he started manufacturing the plants, producing one a week from the business based at his home.

“I lived on acreage and I already had a small treatment plant operating there that I’d built in the mid-’80s,” he said.

“It was very innovative at the time. I took out patents which are still in force today.”

While the basic process is still the same, a lot of other things have changed.

Not the least has been the material used to make the tanks. Originally marine-grade aluminium, they are now made of plastic.

The number being produced has also grown significantly.

“I was making one a week when we started; now we’re putting out one-an-hour ... that will become three-an-hour when we finish installing new machine,” he said.

More than 10,000 of the plants, marketed as Ozzi Kleen Sewage Treatment Systems, have been sold across Australia.

The business has gone from being a backyard operation to having not one, but two factories in K***a Park.

And Mr Close said the company was about to change the way it marketed the systems, going from an exclusively distributorship model, to a combination of distributors and sales offices.

The first sales office was opened in Enterprise Street at K***a Park on Friday, with plans in place to roll out a network of offices across the country.

“Bill Gates says to keep it all in-house, so that’s what we’re doing, although we’ll still keep the network of distributors,” Mr Close said.

Opening the sales office hasn’t been the only step Suncoast Waste Water Management has taken down the vertical integration path.

The business spent $500,000 on a moulding machine to enable it to make its own moulds to produce the various-sized tanks required.

And more recently, it has taken that strategy to yet another level, now manufacturing the moulding machines themselves.

And with the waste water treatment industry becoming the latest boom sector, SWWM is now designing and manufacturing rainwater harvesting systems, including everything from the underground tanks to the leaf strainers

Originally published as Mal Close waste water management pioneer

Just some old notes to reread

11/12/2022

11/12/2022

26/04/2020

Neat port Pty Ltd trading as ‘Suncoast Waste Water Management’ is the manufacturing company of the range of ‘Ozzi Kleen’ Water and Wastewater treatment plants and products

This following story is very exciting for me and OzziKleen.

PWWA Allied Member Queensland’s Ozzi Kleen on COVID-19 frontline in China

A wastewater treatment plant provided by Queensland company Ozzi Kleen is helping a Chinese hospital disinfect its wastewater to limit the spread of COVID-19. Sunshine Coast-based Ozzi Kleen’s Containerised Transportable Wastewater Treatment Plant was recently installed at the Suqian Infectious Disease Hospital, approximately 700km north-east of Wuhan. Ozzi Kleen’s plant is providing an extra disinfection process to remove the risk of the virus leaving the hospital via liquid waste streams. TIQ Acting CEO Richard Watson said Ozzi Kleen’s efforts were inspiring. ‘Ozzi Kleen’s ability to provide practical solutions so quickly is a great example of the ingenuity and flexibility of Queensland manufacturers,’ Mr Watson said. ‘Queenslanders take pride in looking out for their friends in times of need and Ozzi Kleen’s efforts to help Suqian City Infectious Disease Hospital showcases that to the world.’ Ozzi Kleen Production Manager David Blee said the business was humbled to be able to help people in China during this difficult time. ‘We have been going back and forth to China for a while now and have built a strong relationship with a great group of Chinese people,’ Mr Blee said. ‘We have great empathy for their situation and that’s why we went the extra mile to install this system quickly.’ Ozzi Kleen specialises in sewerage treatment systems, from underground residential units to fully relocatable commercial systems for remote locations such as workers camps at mines. Their Containerised Transportable Wastewater Treatment Plants are ‘plug and play’ systems, built within shipping containers for maximum portability, that require minimal setup. This simplicity meant Ozzi Kleen was able to guide a local Chinese team through the installation process remotely via WeChat with the help of joint venture partner Kieren Zhou as a translator. Mr Blee noted that remotely installing such a large system under lockdown conditions was challenging. ‘When you’re doing the installation via videocall on a mobile phone you don’t have any peripheral vision, so can’t see everything that’s going on,’ he said. ‘Additionally, all the shops were shut which meant that if what we needed wasn’t already on site, there was no chance of getting it. Ozzi Kleen began exporting to China under a $9 billion China Ministry for Environment program. The program aims to reduce wastewater impacts on farmlands, channels and the underground water table in rural areas without adequate sewerage treatment processes. An initial system was shipped to China in late December but had not yet been installed when the COVID-19 outbreak started. Mr Blee said the system was reconfigured slightly to deal with the infectious waste at the specialist hospital, which was last used during the SARS outbreak 17 years ago. ‘Our Containerised Transportable Wastewater Treatment Plant utilises an active naturally occurring bacteria to treat and clarify the water before chlorinating the water ready for release to the environment. ‘This is different to many of the systems currently in use in China which use membranes to clean the water.’ Looking ahead, Mr Blee said Ozzi Kleen is optimistic it can finalise a ‘manufacture under licence’ agreement for their containerised systems with the Chinese Government. ‘We had the Chinese Government go out and look at the system in Suqian last week,’ he said. ‘They have been very willing to embrace the technology and the systems. ‘They’re very happy with its performance and are now looking at having us assist with other projects.’ The government is planning to move the system in place at Suqian Infectious Disease Hospital to a larger hospital shortly. TIQ has worked with Ozzi Kleen for several years, previously helping to facilitate their successful market entry into Indonesia and Middle East. Queensland Trade and Investment Commissioner for China Julie-Anne Nichols said China and Queensland had built a strong, collaborative relationship over many decades of engagement and exchanges. ‘We are standing by each other during these challenging times to help each other out in areas that really matter and count,’ Ms Nichols said. ‘Ozzi Kleen’s partnership with China couldn’t be a better example of this symbiotic relationship in action. ‘TIQ’s team in China is working with Queensland exporters and their partners in China to support our continued commercial engagement and support businesses build resilience and innovative approaches together during this global crisis.’ China is one of 12 markets in which TIQ promotes Queensland trade and investment around the world.