Veolia has held the official ground breaking ceremony for a new facility that will help to close the loop on Sydney’s residual waste.
The new multi-million dollar mechanical and biological treatment (MBT) facility will be based at the Woodlawn eco-precinct at Goulburn.
It will use advanced technology to extract organic material from mixed waste streams received from across wider Sydney, which will produce compost for on-site mine rehabilitation.
Local community representatives joined Veolia executives in turning the soil, which will be remediated using the MBT-produced compost once the facility is completed.
Ben Sullivan, Veolia’s NSW Group General Manager, said: “The construction of the mechanical biological treatment facility is an important stage in our sustainability efforts at Woodlawn, including rehabilitating the former Woodlawn mine site.
“The facility supports existing source-separation initiatives, such as kerbside recycling, by recovering energy and resources from the residual waste stream. “
The Woodlawn site currently accepts around 20 per cent of Sydney’s putrescible waste and has taken around 4.6 million tonnes of waste from across the city. The waste has been used to generate green electricity, and the facility now exports enough power to supply over 4000 households a year.
The new MBT facility will further enhance the resource recovery capabilities of the eco-precinct, while also helping the municipal and commercial sectors to meet the resource recovery targets set by the NSW Government.