Helping Sydney manage its growing waste issue. State-of-the-art waste resource recovery

THE CHALLENGE

As Sydney has grown, so too has the amount of waste it produces. In fact, as a country it has been estimated that

Australia is the second highest producer of municipal solid waste per capita in the world.

Five Northern Sydney Councils and eight councils that

form part of the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils engaged Veolia to help divert waste from landfill

through sustainable waste management practices and resource recovery solutions.

THE SOLUTION Earth Power

Earthpower Technologies (Earthpower) is Australia’s first regional food waste–to–energy facility located in Camellia, NSW. Earthpower accepts solid and liquid food waste streams from the industrial, commercial and residential sectors and converts it to green energy and nutrient-rich fertiliser.

THE SOLUTION Woodlawn Bioenergy Facility

The Woodlawn site is located 250km south of Sydney, near Goulburn in New South Wales. Previously a copper, lead and zinc open-cut mine, the void is now used as one of the largest, and certainly one of the deepest, purpose-built bioreactor landfill projects in the world. The methane created from decomposing putrescible waste is used as fuel for specially created turbines to create electricity.

The Woodlawn Bioreactor currently accepts around 20% of Sydney’s putrescible waste and is recognised as an example of best practice landfill technology.

HOW WE DO IT

Earth Power

EarthPower accepts food waste and organic liquid waste and converts it to renewable energy from digester gas that is

recovered and used to fuel cogeneration engines. A by-product of the anaerobic digestion process is a nutrient rich

sludge, which is dried and granulated for sale as a fertiliser into the agriculture and horticultural markets.

Our customised solutions include:

ORGANICS & GREEN WASTE COLLECTION RESOURCE

RECOVERY

COMPOST

•  Capacity to receive up to 45,000 tonnes of food waste p.a.

•  Reduced greenhouse gas emissions through anaerobic digestion

•  Renewable energy supply to over 3,600 households

•  Support sustainability goals for large food retailers

THE OUTCOME

HOW WE DO IT

Woodlawn Bioenergy Facility The Woodlawn site is comprised of several key sustainable and innovative elements including:

•  Bioreactor - facilities recover energy from what would otherwise be waste material to produce green electricity

•  Agriculture - incorporating a working farm that applies nutrient and grazing rotation to improve meat and wool productivity while reducing impacts on the soil

•  Aquaculture and horticulture - utilising the waste heat produced from the energy generation process for fish farming, incorporating hydroponics in the filtrations system to remove excess nutrients

•  The development of a Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) facility designed to extract the organic content from the mixed waste stream to produce compost for onsite mine rehabilitation

Our customised solutions include:

WASTE MANAGEMENT RESOURCE

RECOVERY LANDFILL WASTE TO

ENERGY CAPTURE

•  Reduces the state’s environmental footprint by processing 20% of Sydney’s putrescible waste and diverting 45% of the waste received from landfill

•  4.1 Mt of waste used to generate green electricity

•  Exports enough power to supply over 6,000 households

•  Mulwaree Trust provides funding for charitable purposes and worthwhile community projects to benefit local communities

THE OUTCOME

To find out how Veolia’s world of plug-ins can help your business visit:

veolia.com.au/integratedbydesign