REMONDIS proposes to build an Energy from Waste (EfW) plant on its landfill site at Swanbank, in an area zoned for heavy industry and adjacent to Swanbank power station. The site has the infrastructure in place to operate a power station and is already connected to the electricity grid.

Queensland has the opportunity to benefit from REMONDIS’ experience, and other successful European and UK facilities, and incorporate Waste to Energy as part of the solution to sustainable, best practice waste management.

REMONDIS has been a supplier to the Queensland electricity grid for more than 10 years through its methane capture and electricity generation project at Swanbank that generates around 12,000MWh per annum of renewable energy.

The proposed site for the Energy from Waste plant is REMONDIS’ waste management facility at Swanbank, within an existing waste management zone and on a site that already exports electricity.

The site is zoned heavy industry, is connected to the electricity grid, and is adjacent to Swanbank power station.

REMONDIS has been a supplier to the Queensland electricity grid for more than 10 years through its methane capture and electricity generation project at Swanbank that generates around 12,000MWh per annum of renewable energy.

REMONDIS is targeting 20% of Queensland’s suitable waste streams for its Energy from Waste project.

By capturing between 300,000 and 500,000 tonnes of suitable waste per year, REMONDIS can generate up to 50MW of baseload renewable electricity for Queensland households and businesses.

The EfW proposal does not rely on additional waste streams coming to the Swanbank site – instead it will divert existing waste streams to a beneficial use. REMONDIS does not take any of the NSW waste streams that were the subject of recent media coverage and public interest.

The EfW plant will be able to accept a range of wastes that have a calorific value (ie will burn) and that can’t be recycled.

These include plastics that can’t be recycled, eg plastics that don’t carry a “1” or “2” recycling logo; manufactured timbers that can’t be recycled, eg particleboard, MDF; and materials that have been impregnated (eg with oils, paints etc) and can’t be recycled, including timbers, cardboard, textiles (clothing and furniture).

No. REMONDIS does not accept, and will not accept, any toxic wastes at its Swanbank landfill nor for the proposed EfW plant.

REMONDIS receives, on average, 500,000 tonnes of waste at its Swanbank landfill every year. 100% of the waste received at Swanbank is from Ipswich and greater Brisbane. In general, the sources of the waste are:

• 145,000 tonnes (29%) of municipal (household) waste from Brisbane and Ipswich City Councils
• 240,000 tonnes (48%) of commercial and industrial waste from greater Brisbane and Ipswich
• 115,000 tonnes (23%) of contaminated soils and other wastes from greater Brisbane and Ipswich.

REMONDIS and other member companies of the Rethmann group together operate more than 50 Energy from Waste plants in Europe that are built according to BREF guidelines (http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/), with an advanced flue gas treatment system. The plants operate in accordance with Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/industry/stationary/ied/legislation.htm)
which specifies the combustion conditions in a way to reduce the formation of persistent organic pollutants to an inevitable minimum.

A combustion temperature of at least 850°C has to be applied for at least two seconds in the post combustion chamber to widely destroy persistent organic pollutants. The very minor amounts of persistent organic pollutants that pass the combustion chamber are effectively removed from the flue gas by dosing of activated carbon upstream of a fabric filter.

In order to ensure compliance with legal emission limits, the limit values have to be verified twice a year by an independent, accredited measuring institute in accordance with the Industrial Emissions Directive. The measured values are published to the public.

The proposed Swanbank EfW plant will apply the same rigorous emission control processes that we undertake in Europe.

REMONDIS and other member companies of the Rethmann group together operate more than 50 Energy from Waste plants in Europe, where emissions are primarily controlled by the flue gas treatment process.

The proposed EfW project at Swanbank will be based on existing facilities in Europe and will incorporate best available technology for flue gas treatment. The flue gas treatment proposed at Swanbank will be designed to meet the in-stack concentrations limits for waste incineration set by the European Union Industrial Emissions Directive.

Stack emissions will be continuously monitored by a computer controlled system and spot testing will take place at regulated frequencies.

The bottom ash is processed to recover metals and the resulting aggregate is re-used in various applications, for example: road base. Bottom ash volumes are generally 16%-22% of the input waste volumes.

The fly ash is collected from the boiler and emission control processes. The ash is stabilised, if required, and disposed to REMONDIS’ licenced landfill. Fly ash volumes are generally 2-3% of the input waste volumes.

The Swanbank facility will provide councils with an alternative waste management solution to landfilling.

If Queensland maintains a “business as usual” approach to refuse disposal and waste recycling, most of south east Queensland’s 11 landfills will have no capacity by 2040.

Diverting thousands of tonnes of suitable waste away from landfill and into a best-practice Energy from Waste plant will extend the life of south east Queensland’s constrained landfills.

Depending on the amount of the levy to be imposed by the Queensland Government on waste going to landfill, the Energy from Waste option may become a more economically viable alternative.

The REMONDIS facility at Swanbank is an integrated waste facility, comprising landfill, recycling and, in the future, an Energy from Waste plant.

Energy from Waste is accepted as a legitimate element of managing residual waste in the circular economy, alongside resource recovery, or recycling.

Adopting Energy from Waste technology will ensure that wastes with recoverable value are not sent to landfill and, instead, are put to beneficial use.

The European Commission, a world leader in waste management standards, encourages construction of “state-of-the-art energy-efficient” Energy from Waste plants to “create new capacity for the treatment of residual waste” in European Union member states.

Energy from Waste will form only part of the complete Swanbank Recycling Park. Current conceptual plans include the ability to divert viable resource recovery product for alternative use. Only residual product will be sent for an Energy from Waste use.

For remaining feedstock, REMONDIS plans on diverting current inputs from its adjacent landfill facility, material that has already been screened for recyclables.

This will be waste for which no other options are available.

The proposed REMONDIS Energy from Waste facility will be a private sector investment. There will be no public funding required or sought.

With numerous Energy from Waste facilities currently owned and operating across the globe, REMONDIS is experienced in understanding the costs and returns in construction and operating such facilities.

The environmental benefits of using waste to produce energy far outweigh the environmental costs of burying waste in landfills.

Subject to the EfW proposal receiving all its approvals from government, if construction commenced in 2019 (for example), it would be expected to be operational by 2023/2024.

The project could create up to 200 jobs during construction and some 50 jobs during operations.

Energy from Waste plants recover energy and produce electricity from the combustion of non-recyclable waste.

The technology for recovering energy through thermal waste treatment has been proven across Europe for decades, and Europe would not have met its EU waste recovery and landfill diversion targets without significant investment in Energy from Waste.

In Germany, for example, in 2015 around 19TWh of total energy produced came from the waste management sector. Unlike energy generated by wind and solar systems, electricity from Energy from Waste plants is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Adopting Energy from Waste technology will ensure that wastes with recoverable value are not sent to landfill and, instead, are put to beneficial use.

Australia does not yet have a definition for energy created by the thermal treatment of waste.

In the United States, energy created by the thermal treatment of waste is classified as renewable energy. The USA Environmental Protection Agency states that “Energy recovery from the combustion of municipal solid waste is a key part of the non-hazardous waste management hierarchy, which ranks various management strategies from most to least environmentally preferred. Energy recovery ranks below source reduction and recycling/reuse but above treatment and disposal. Confined and controlled burning, known as combustion, can not only decrease the volume of solid waste destined for landfills, but can also recover energy from the waste burning process. This generates a renewable energy source and reduces carbon emissions by offsetting the need for energy from fossil sources and reduces methane generation from landfills”.

In Europe, according to the EU legislation the biodegradable fraction of municipal and industrial waste is considered biomass, thus a renewable energy source. The energy output from European Waste-to-Energy plants is about 50% renewable.
http://www.cewep.eu/what-is-waste-to-energy/

One Megawatt (MW) is 1,000,000 watts of electricity. A watt of electricity is a measure of power.

A Megawatt hour (MWh) is equivalent to one million watts of electricity being used or generated for one hour.

Megawatt hours is the standard unit in which electricity is bought and sold.

One MW would power the equivalent of about 1000 average homes.

If Queensland maintains a “business as usual” approach to refuse disposal and waste recycling, south east Queensland’s 11 landfills will have no capacity by 2040.

Diverting thousands of tonnes of suitable waste away from landfill and into a best-practice Energy from Waste plant will extend the life of south east Queensland’s constrained landfills and also provide an additional, baseload electricity source for Queensland residents and businesses.

Queensland has the opportunity to benefit from successful European and UK experiences and incorporate Energy from Waste as part of the solution to sustainable, best practice waste management.

By capturing between 300,000 and 500,000 tonnes of suitable waste per year, REMONDIS can generate up to 50MW of baseload renewable electricity for Queensland households and businesses.

The Queensland Government announced in May 2018 in its “Transforming Queensland’s Recycling and Waste Industry, Directions Paper” that it will “develop a policy to promote safe and sustainable delivery of waste-to-energy”.

The decision by the Queensland Government to reintroduce a levy on waste going to landfill provides important encouragement and support for more responsible treatment of wastes, including recycling and beneficial reuse, and will extend the life of landfills for those wastes where no other options are available.

The Government stated in its Direction Paper that Energy from Waste should be seen as a “complementary measure in a society that achieves significantly higher rates of recycling”.

In the UK, more than 60 Energy from Waste plants were granted development approval in the 10 years to 2016.

There are hundreds of Energy from Waste plants across Europe, which would not have met its EU waste recovery and landfill diversion targets without significant investment in Energy from Waste.

The technology used in Europe is tried and tested and known to be successful.

The European Commission, a world leader in waste management standards, encourages construction of “state-of-the-art energy-efficient” Energy from Waste plants.

In its paper “The role of waste-to-energy in the circular economy”, the EC provides guidance to Member States “when reviewing national waste management plans and assessing the need for additional waste-to-energy capacity for the treatment of non-recyclable waste” to “create new capacity for the treatment of residual waste”.

The report goes on:

“Where the creation of new capacity for the treatment of residual waste appears justified based on the assessment of all the factors mentioned above, Member States should pay particular attention to the use of state-of-the-art energy-efficient technologies and to the size and location of the plant.”

There are far more EfW plants under construction than closing across Europe. Some EfW plants have closed or are closing across Europe due to their age or profitability. However, these plants are mostly rebuilt and retrofitted to further ensure security of disposal.

Yes. As at February 2019 there were at least seven facilities approved or awaiting planning approval across Australia, including five approved EfW projects in Western Australia and Victoria:

1. Phoenix Energy at Kwinana has WA EPA and State Government approval. In October 2018, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation provided support and financial backing for the project. The $668 million facility, which is being co-developed by Macquarie Capital and Phoenix Energy Australia, will be located in the Kwinana Industrial Area around 40km south of Perth. Once completed, it will convert up to 400,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste into 36MW of baseload electricity, enough to power 50,000 households. The plant will also be capable of processing commercial and industrial waste and construction and demolition waste from a range of sources including local councils in the Perth metropolitan area. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. http://www.phoenixenergy.com.au
2. Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council’s Energy from Waste project at East Rockingham has WA EPA and State Government approval. The project will divert 96% of the EMRC’s residual household waste from landfill (approximately 300,000 tonnes per annum) into baseload renewable energy, producing 28MW of electricity at full capacity - enough to power 36,000 homes. A consortium of Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), New Energy Corporation and Tribe Infrastructure Group was selected in 2017 as the preferred tenderer. http://www.newenergycorp.com.au/projects/perth-metro-wa/
3. The Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council is building a wood waste to energy project to further develop its Hazelmere Recycling Centre (located approximately 14 km from Perth). The plant will be based on pyrolysis technology using an indirect-fired pyrolysis kiln to produce synthesis gas (syngas) for use in internal combustion gas engines for power generation. http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/proposals/hazelmere-wood-waste-energy-plant
4. Port Hedland, Western Australia. New Energy Corporation Pty Ltd has approval to construct an 18MW energy from waste plant that will process between 70,000 and 130,000 tonnes of waste per annum. The plant is expected to be operational in 2019.
5. Latrobe Valley, Victoria. Australian Paper has approval for a 225MW thermal energy from waste plant that will process 650,000 tonnes per annum of municipal solid waste and commercial and industrial waste. https://www.australianpaper.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Media-Release-AP-SUEZ-EfW-partnership-070219-Final.pdf
6. Laverton North, Victoria. Recovered Energy Australia is in the design and application stage for a 10MW gasification to energy plant that would process  200,000 tonnes per annum of municipal solid waste.
7. Portland, New South Wales. Mt. Piper (Energy Australia and RE Group) are awaiting an EPA decision on an application for a 27MW energy from waste facility that would process 200,000 tonnes of waste per annum.

The proposal by Dial-A-Dump Industries’ Next Generation Pty Ltd was for an incinerator at Eastern Creek to operate 24/7 and provide enough energy to supply up to 100,000 homes.

In July 2018, plans for a waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney were rejected by the NSW Independent Planning Commission because of deficiencies with the proposal.

In its report, the Commission determined that the Eastern Creek plant proposed to incorporate waste types which are prohibited in NSW policy and therefore the application was considered non-compliant.

The Commission also found that the application did not reference a similar existing facility for comparison as is required by NSW policy, and some assessment reports contained fundamental issues.

The Commission therefore did not have confidence in the submitted proposal and decided to reject the application.

Source: https://www.ipcn.nsw.gov.au/resources/pac/media/files/pac/projects/2018/04/eastern-creek-energy-from-waste-facility-ssd-6236/determination/statement-of-reasons.pdf

No. The Swanbank facility will incorporate a variety of proven technologies and processes, all of which will enable REMONDIS to meet the strict environmental standards required by licences and approval conditions.

REMONDIS facilities worldwide are designed to meet the highest environmental standards, as dictated by the European emissions standards and their equivalent Australian requirements, such as the NSW Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2010.

These standards require all relevant facilities to have state-of-the-art air scrubbers and protection measures to ensure that any possible pollution is contained and able to be disposed of appropriately.

No. Any facility will be designed to eliminate odours and will have systems that are more likely to contain odours than normal landfilling techniques which, in poorly managed facilities, can release methane.

Also, the process of converting non-recyclable waste to energy means that any putrescible waste spends only a short time in the facility before processing, which assists with managing odour.

Energy from Waste plants recover energy through the combustion of waste as fuel for generating power – just as other power plants use coal or natural gas. The burning fuel heats water into steam to drive a turbine to create electricity.

The wastes used in an Energy from Waste facility are those that have no other treatment option – wastes that are not able to be recovered and recycled.

A 2003 study by Columbia University showed Energy from Waste facilities in the United States of America produced fewer sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, and released fewer particulates into the environment, than US coal-fired power plants [1].

Any REMONDIS Energy from Waste facilities in Australia will utilise only up to date, proven and best practice technology that includes all necessary control mechanisms. REMONDIS meets the European emissions standards as a minimum requirement and aims to improve upon these outcomes at all times.

[1] citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.541.732&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Ash residue from Energy from Waste plants is not inherently hazardous.

Any hazardous residues from an Energy from Waste plant at Swanbank will be disposed of at an approved landfill, including the REMONDIS landfill at Swanbank.

REMONDIS is also investigating how the ash residues can be processed and re-used.

Yes, it is always better to avoid, reduce and then reuse/recycle waste before any other treatment. This is the hierarchy that will apply at the proposed Energy from Waste plant at Swanbank.

REMONDIS does not generate the waste, it manages the waste on behalf of residents, councils and businesses. Waste avoidance and reduction needs to take place at the source, ie at home, at work.

Advanced waste management systems combine prevention, recycling and Waste-to-Energy. The EU waste hierarchy, as set out in the Waste Framework Directive, puts prevention, reuse and recycling first, followed by recovery and disposal. Efficient Energy from Waste plants belong to the recovery category: they turn non-reusable, non-recyclable waste into energy, thereby reducing the need for landfilling which is the least desirable option due to high environmental impacts (potential groundwater pollution, methane emissions, and aftercare periods of hundreds of years). http://www.cewep.eu/what-is-waste-to-energy/

In early 2017, the European Commission published new guidance on the production of energy from waste as part of the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy. The report encouraged manufacturers and consumers to get the maximum value and use from all raw materials, products and waste. The EU guidance emphasised that generating energy from waste that cannot be recycled or reused can contribute to a circular economy and energy diversification and that improving the efficiency of this process will help to increase energy production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/news/producing-energy-waste-new-eu-guidance-published. The report stated that EfW processes can play a role in the transition to a circular economy provided that the EU waste hierarchy is used as a guiding principle and that choices made do not prevent higher levels of prevention, reuse and recycling. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/waste-to-energy.pdf

Energy from Waste is an adjunct to recycling, and a method of treating waste that cannot be recycled.

Energy from Waste is accepted as a legitimate element of managing residual waste in the circular economy, along with resource recovery, or recycling.

A world leader in waste management standards, the European Commission encourages construction of “state-of-the-art energy-efficient” Energy from Waste plants to “create new capacity for the treatment of residual waste” in member states.

REMONDIS believes that only waste that cannot be viably recycled should be considered for Energy from Waste in Australia.

The proposed Swanbank Energy from Waste facility will sit alongside REMONDIS’ existing recycling facility and landfill, ensuring waste is used to its highest potential. REMONDIS continues to invest in recycling.

The world leader in waste management, the European Union, reported in May 2018 that the increase in waste used for Energy from Waste and incineration between 1995 and 2016 was accompanied by an increase in recycling. (Source: Statistics Explained (ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Municipal_waste_statistics#Municipal_waste_treatment) - 30/05/2018)

Energy from Waste plays an important role in diverting waste from landfill.

A direct comparison of the two technologies in the USA in 2003, “Emissions from Waste-to-Energy: A comparison with Coal-fire Power Plants” (DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2003-55295), found:

“The results of the study have shown that emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides were lower from waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities than from coal-fired plants.”

researchgate.net/publication/242108296_Emissions_from_Waste-to-Energy_A_Comparison_with_Coal-fired_Power_Plants

A proponent of a proposed major project in Queensland may apply to the Coordinator-General to have its project declared a 'coordinated project' under Part 4 of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 (SDPWO Act).

To be eligible for a coordinated project declaration, a project must have one or more of the following characteristics:

complex approval requirements, imposed by a local government, the state or the Commonwealth
• significant environmental effects
• strategic significance to a locality, region or the state, including for the infrastructure, economic and social benefits, capital investment or employment opportunities it may provide
• significant infrastructure requirements.

When a project is declared 'coordinated', it triggers the requirement for a rigorous environmental impact assessment process to be undertaken; and the proponent must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) or an impact assessment report (IAR).

The Office of the Coordinator-General assists proponents through complex government processes by facilitating assessment by local, state and federal government agencies and managing public notification of the EIS or IAR and other related documentation.

While a coordinated project is undergoing an environmental impact assessment, the following are suspended:

• Integrated Development Assessment System (IDAS) approvals process - under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009
• approvals processes under other relevant Acts.

This suspension remains in place until the Coordinator-General's report on the EIS or IAR is completed and sent to the IDAS assessment manager and other assessment managers for their consideration. The report will recommend approval (with conditions) or rejection of the project.

The Coordinator-General's report on the EIS or IAR is not an approval in itself. The conditions of approval stated in the report only gain legal effect when they are attached to an approval given under other specific legislation.

The Coordinator-General can also impose conditions on a project in the absence of a relevant approval regime; and these conditions do not need to be attached to a later approval to be given effect.