Flip Screen Australia is bringing green credentials to the building industry.
The Flip Screen is an earthmoving bucket that sifts material through its mesh screening chamber as it rotates, keeping the larger particles inside because of its spiralling action. The screened soil, sand or gravel can be re-used or sold, reducing the amount of waste material transported to landfills.
Sam Turnbull, Flip Screen's managing director, is now taking the concept one step further with a crusher bucket that will be able to crush waste building products such as bricks and concrete on site.
"All this would normally have just gone to landfill - and then you'd buy your gravel supplies from a landscape supplier," he says. "It means you'll be saving on the truck's fuel costs. The trucks won't be driving to and from the tip and the landscape suppliers."
He received a $470,000 Climate Ready grant this year, and will spend 18 months on development work - such as investigating materials and building prototypes.
Flip Screen is now exporting to 14 countries, and was named in Business Review Weekly magazine's 2009 list of the 100 fastest start-up companies.
