Industry pundits have described the City of Gold Coast’s approach to dwindling landfill capacity – an Advanced Resource Recovery Centre (ARRC) comprising eight individual facilities, including residual waste-to-energy – as bold.
Designed to boost recovery and recycling, and divert up to 97 per cent of landfill, the $1.6 billion ARRC project includes a materials recovery facility (MRF), organics processing facility, construction and demolition waste recycling facility, a new sewage treatment plant and recycled water treatment plant, green hydrogen electrolysis facility, community education centre and the big ticket item – the residual waste-to-energy facility to process waste that cannot be recovered or recycled.
Currently in the feasibility stage, if regulatory approvals are successful, it will be a first for Queensland. While there are waste-to-energy proposals touted for other areas of the state, the Gold Coast project is being driven by the local government.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says the city is looking for advanced tech solutions for all areas of resource recovery and waste management, and waste-to-energy is just one element of a circular approach.
“Our residual waste-to-energy facility is an important part of our plan but it’s not the only part,” Tom says. “The priority is to recover and recycle as much material as we can, increase remanufacturing opportunities to support a circular economy, and work with our community to avoid waste generation in the first place.
“This is the next step in work we’re already doing.”
The City of Gold Coast more than doubled its residential green organics service in 2023, when the service became a part of the standard bin set – it is the biggest expansion of a green organics service by a council in Australia to date. The City now has 135,000 green organics bins in service and the diversion of that material from landfill is evident in the tonnages every month.
“We’re undertaking widespread engagement on circular economy opportunities with industry and business across the country. We’re actively looking for the people with the tech and advancements to make our circular economy the best in Australia,” Tom says. “We’re investing in research, including for a solution for soft plastics. We’re trialling solutions for food organics, which remains a challenge in south-east Queensland without an economically viable option for widescale processing.
“But we’re pragmatic. A zero-waste future is ideal, but we know there will always be residual waste – the countries with the best recycling rates in the world still have waste-to-energy facilities.”
With the facility scheduled to be operational by the end of 2031, timelines are tight and as such, the council is seeking commercial technology that has a demonstrated operational performance with municipal solid waste at scale of at least two years.
It’s particularly interested in technological advancements in air pollution control components, incorporating carbon capture or the reuse of carbon dioxide to reduce CO2 emissions, and in Air Pollution Control residue (APCr) treatment and reuse.
The proposed facility will comply with the Queensland Government’s Energy from Waste Policy, which adopts safety standards from the European Union where waste-to-energy is an established technology. The standards and scrutiny are welcome.
Tom says that as a local government, the council is held to a high standard of governance and performance. It’s tasked with the responsibility of doing what’s right by the community – for wellbeing, economic prosperity, and for a safe and secure future.
He welcomes the stringent requirements for assessment, and later operation, because he wants what’s best for the community and it means finding the most advanced solutions on offer.
“We know waste-to-energy technology has advanced over the years and it offers a modern answer to a tough challenge,” he says. “We can’t keep digging holes and maintaining landfills, and the emissions that come from them, for 30 years.
“What you put in your general waste bin today will still be your local government’s problem in 2054. It will be a problem for your children’s children – another two generations dealing with the waste we create today.
“We must do better than that. Technology has moved on, and so should we.”
For more information, visit: www.cityofgoldcoast.com.au/arrc
.png){kind=small}
