ResourceCo has cemented its expansion into Queensland with its latest resource recovery facility capable of saving more than 250,000 tonnes of residual material from being sent to landfill every year.
The $70 million alternative fuel plant in Hemmant, an eastern industrial suburb of Brisbane, is the first facility of its type in Queensland, and builds on ResourceCo’s growing national footprint of resource recovery operations.
The plant provides a significant opportunity for landfill diversion and emissions reduction as part of its production of Process Engineered Fuel (PEF), which is used to replace coal in high energy industrial applications, such as cement kilns, both in Australia and globally.
In addition to extracting materials such as metals, heavy recyclables including rock, brick and concrete, the facility has capacity to manufacture about 150,000 tonnes of PEF each year, with an overall landfill diversion rate of 95 per cent.
Henry Anning, Chief Executive Officer of ResourceCo’s Energy division, says the plant will play a crucial role in reducing waste sent to landfill and promoting recycling in the region.
“Queensland is a market with a lot of opportunity in terms of its recycling rate, which means there’s opportunity to capture tonnes of materials and divert them from landfill,” he says.
“Waste policy in Queensland has also evolved significantly in the past five years following the introduction of a waste levy and the State Government’s Waste Strategy 2050.
“We’ve made a commitment to be a first mover to help drive change and the state’s sustainability aspirations.”
The Queensland Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy sets ambitious targets to increase diversion of waste from landfill and increase recycling.
A 10-year roadmap and action plan provide a framework to accelerate this transition. This is also set to be an important contributor to the national waste diversion target of 80 per cent by 2030.
To achieve this, the State Government has committed to supporting capital investment that increases the region’s recycling rates.
ResourceCo has invested more than $70 million, including a government grant under the state’s Resource Recovery Industry Development Program, to develop the resource recovery plant to service South East Queensland.
All incoming materials will be dry, non-putrescible material from waste businesses or generators, council sites, and commercial waste facilities.
“We recognise the embodied energy in all materials, recovering that energy wherever possible is our priority. Now, for the first time, Queensland has a facility that can provide a higher order solution in terms of the waste hierarchy,” Henry says.
“PEF’s ability to harness the energy value of material currently being wasted in landfill sites is unrivalled.
“Aside from the obvious environmental benefits of less material being sent to landfill, less methane and less fossil fuels consumed by our offtake partners, we’re also helping to extend the life of existing landfills, reserving that important airspace for the critical materials that genuinely have no other reuse or recycling solution.
“The outputs of this facility deliver significant reductions in carbon emissions – every tonne of waste diverted from landfill saves about one tonne of carbon and every tonne of PEF consumed instead of fossil fuels saves about one tonne of carbon as well – two bangs for your buck.”
PEF is a ready-to-use alternative fuel source, generated from select dry commercial, industrial, mixed construction and demolition materials. The right mix possesses significant calorific value and can be used as a fuel substitute for coal and gas in high combustion facilities.
The ResourceCo Group believes alternative sources of energy to fossil fuels are integral to maintaining a sustainable environment.
The company’s renewable energy biomass fuel sources are used across Asia and Australia, helping to conserve natural resources, reduce landfill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The company is an international leader in resource recovery and alternative fuels, manufacturing PEF from various sites.
In South Australia, the current Veolia – ResourceCo partnership enables the production of PEF to supply alternative fuels to AdBri.
This plant, the first of its type in Australia when it was opened in 2006, sorts the entire raw material stream into its various components, with more than 90 per cent of the material recovered.
With similar operations with another joint venture partner in New South Wales, ResourceCo’s new Queensland facility is the first of this type fully owned by ResourceCo.
“It’s a major step in our market and a major step for ResourceCo,” Henry says.
ResourceCo worked with Australian-based manufacturer and integrator Ogtec to design and deliver the Queensland plant.
It includes a range of screens, shredders, optical sorters and ballastic separators designed to separate material for recycling and produce a fuel to specifications.
The facility was commissioned in October and Henry says the response has been positive.
“ResourceCo has national waste clients who have been crying out for a landfill diversion solution like this in South East Queensland,” he says.
“We’ve also had good support and momentum from the State Government which is very proactive in getting things done to deliver opportunities like this in Queensland.
“From an employment perspective, the facility will bring additional job opportunities to the region, so it’s not just the environment that benefits from recycling, the economy does too. It’s widely reported that for every 10,000 tonnes of material diverted from landfill into the resource recovery sector, there’s a three-fold employment benefit.”
More than seven years in development, the facility is a substantial investment in the state. Henry says ResourceCo takes a long-term view of the sector and is excited about the future of operations in Queensland.
“South East Queensland is forecast for major population growth over the next 10 years,” Henry says. “With an already lower recycling rate compared to other states, population growth and the 2032 Olympics adding a little bit of extra boost, there are a lot of opportunities.
“ResourceCo had the vision and commitment to make a call and follow it through.
“By leveraging our expertise in commercial and industrial, as well as construction and demolition waste recycling, we are poised to make a substantial impact on Queensland’s environmental sustainability.”
ResourceCo has operations in every Australian state and aims to deliver multiple resource recovery facilities around east coast capital cities. Henry describes it as building an ecosystem of sustainability and believes ResourceCo has the experience, scale and strong relationships with offtake partners to have confidence in investing in the sector.
“We could build many more of this type of facility around Australia if the economics and policy settings are right,” he says. “There is 15 million tonnes of construction and demolition and commercial and industrial waste still going to landfill. Even if half or a third of this still went to landfill we could divert millions of tonnes of this waste and save millions of tonnes of emissions from the landfills and energy users.
“It would also drive hundreds, if not thousands of jobs, just with this type of plant. That’s something that often gets lost in conversation, this type of investment is an economic and social opportunity.”
For more information, www.resourceco.com.au