A smarter solution to landfill

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Monday, 19 August 2024

Knox City Council has joined with eight other councils in Melbourne’s southeast to find a better solution for waste than burying it in the ground.

From 2029 household waste that cannot be recycled or recovered will be sent to a facility in Gippsland that will turn it into energy that will power an adjacent paper mill.

The new arrangement will be more cost effective than sending waste to landfill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 270,000 tonnes annually – equal to removing 50,000 cars from the road every year.

Mayor of Knox Cr Jude Dwight said this is a smarter solution than sending waste to landfill.

“Despite our recent achievements to reduce the amount of waste we are sending to landfill, our region is growing and household waste is projected to increase by 40 per cent by 2046,” Cr Dwight said.

“The last remaining landfill in Melbourne’s southeast is set to close in the next few years. This solution means our waste will become a valuable energy source for an important industry in the Latrobe Valley.

“It is expected to create more than 500 temporary jobs during construction of processing facilities and an estimated 455 permanent operating jobs.

“It’s a better alternative to landfill for the items that can’t be reused or recycled. It reduces emissions, creates investment and employment and preserves land for better uses than landfill.

“With costs to send waste to landfill increasing every year, this solution gives us more certainty about our costs of waste disposal and security about where our waste is going to go when the last landfill in our region closes,” she said.

Other councils involved are Bayside, Cardinia, Casey, Greater Dandenong, Frankston, Kingston, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges. The councils have set up a company called South East Metropolitan Advanced Waste Processing (SEMAWP) Pty Ltd to manage the contract agreement. Each participating council is bound by a shareholders’ agreement and has an equal share in SEMAWP.

SEMAWP has entered a Waste Supply Agreement for a contract term of 25 years with Veolia Australia and New Zealand, Opal Australian Paper, and Masdar Tribe Australia (together known as Maryvale EfW Project Co Pty Ltd).

Modern, best-practice advanced waste processing facilities are designed to meet strict emissions standards, with real-time emission monitoring to make sure they meet strict air quality standards. They are being used safely and reliably in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and North America.

In Victoria, they are regulated by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and Recycling Victoria and must be appropriately located, constructed and operated according to strict regulations that minimise risks to the environment and people.

A smarter solution to landfill

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