New MRF and FOGO facilities on the way for Canberra

Consultation is open on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) facility in Canberra, following a Boxing Day fire in 2022.

The blaze destroyed the Hume Material Recovery Facility on Boxing Day last year. An ACT Fire and Rescue investigation has since found the presence of multiple types of batteries in the facility’s waste compactor area led to the fire.

Chris Steel, Minister for Transport and City Services, said a new recycling facility should be a priority in the Australian Capital Territory to ensure recyclable materials can be handled properly.

“The costs associated with transporting the ACT’s recycling to processing facilities outside of the Territory, as far away as Victoria, is unsustainable in the long run,” Steel said.

“The government remains committed to delivering a city-wide FOGO collection service. We will continue the FOGO pilot currently underway in Belconnen until the composting facility is built to enable the city-wide roll-out.

“Given the circumstances of the disaster, the government is expediting the new MRF by undertaking a single stage tender to ensure that the facility is built as soon as possible.”

Steel said a pre-tender notice about the MRF project will be released in May 2023.

The new MRF, expected to be operational in 2025, will be located on the same site as the existing facility and will use part of the adjoining block in the Hume Resource Recovery Estate. It is designed to have an increased processing capacity of about 115,000 tonnes per year to provide for future growth.

Steel said the facility will have modern technologies.

“These technologies will provide better sorting capabilities with the development of additional products including glass, plastic recovery, and better bailing processes including for the Container Deposit Scheme,” he said.

The new FOGO facility is expected to have capacity to process more than 50,000 tonnes of compost each year, with food scraps turned into a valuable resource instead of going to landfill.

The FOGO facility, proposed for Block 5, Section 26 in the Hume Resource Recovery Estate, is expected to be operational by 2026.

Both the MRF and FOGO facility are set to include mitigation measures to alleviate potential noise, traffic and odour impacts.

Steel said the State Government is committed to building a circular economy and meeting the National Waste Action Plan targets for halving organic waste sent to landfill by 2030.

“With organic waste decomposition in landfill accounting for more than seven per cent of Canberra’s greenhouse gas emissions, it remains important that we divert organic waste from landfill and have the capacity to recycle it here, at scale, into valuable compost,” he said.

For more information, visit: www.cmtedd.act.gov.au