Waste not, want not at Woodlawn Bioreactor

A multi-million dollar composting facility at the Woodlawn Bioreactor has “ticked all the boxes” for two groups of Sydney councils.

Representatives from the Northern Sydney and Southern Sydney Organisations of Councils were among scores of guests at the launch of Veolia Environmental Services’ Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) facility on Friday.

The $100m plant is the company’s largest MBT in the world, capable of processing 240,000 tonnes annually of putrescible waste into an organic material to be used in onsite mine rehabilitation. The facility is the latest addition to a suite of technology at Woodlawn, including the bioreactor, wind farm, agriculture, aquaculture and horticulture.

The MBT was commissioned in April after nearly two years’ construction and received its first waste in July. Veolia’s NSW group general manager Ben Sullivan said a contract with the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) in 2013 was the catalyst for construction.

Another contract with the Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (NSROC) followed in 2015. All up, they embrace 13 councils sending 144,000 tonnes a year to the MBT.

“The very reason we do it is the cost saving and out of environmental responsibility,” NSROC president Richard Quinn said.

“For us it ticks all the boxes. Since 2015 we’ve sent 90,000 tonnes of waste to Woodlawn, 33,000 tonnes of which have been processed into compost.”

SSROC executive officer Namoi Dougall said councils avoided paying the State’s waste levy on rubbish sent for organic processing.

“By doing this it is not going to landfill and becomes a resource. It has saved our group of councils $15m annually and that’s all money that goes back into the community,” she said. 

Goulburn MP Pru Goward described the technology as a “game changer” for the Woodlawn site and the way in which waste was managed in NSW.

“This site has the capacity to divert 60 per cent of household waste from landfill into compost,” she said.

Mr Sullivan told The Post that Woodlawn had received over 6.5m tonnes since the bioreactor started in 2004. In 2017 it will receive more than 700,000 tonnes by rail, 144,000 tonnes of which will be diverted into the MBT from July 1.

It arrives from a transfer station at Clyde and another $37m station at Banksmeadow built specifically to cater for the councils’ contract, which spans 15 years. Banksmeadow has been operating since last September.

“We’re very happy with the MBT,” Mr Sullivan said.

“A facility of this size is unique and it’s our largest in the world.”

He said the technology had been around for 30 years and was more widely used in Europe.

Putrescible waste arrives in containers at the site and is tipped into a 13-metre deep pit below the 20m high ‘reception hall.’ A crane then loads it into one of four 50m long by 4.6m wide rotating drums in which air and water degrade the material and prepare it for separation. Inorganic materials are separated at this point for recycling.

Following this, the waste sits for up to four days, allowing natural heat to break it down, after which it is sent to a refining hall to separate plastics and the like. Then it is stockpiled in a fermentation hall where air is blown into it to accelerate the breakdown. Finally it goes to a maturation pad for six to eight weeks and later sieved for compost.

Under an agreement, Woodlawn Mine operator Heron Resources will use the material in tailings dam rehabilitation. It is an obligation tied to Heron’s consent.

Mr Sullivan said the energy intensive process would be powered by methane captured from the bioreactor. Veolia is installing a seventh one-megawatt engine generator and plans to build as many as twenty-four.

A 2.5MW solar farm, currently in design stage, is also planned for the 6000 hectare ecoprecinct to supply 22 per cent of the MBT’s power. Mr Sullivan said a development application for the $5.5m farm would soon be lodged with Goulburn Mulwaree Council.

“We’ll get the panels by the end of this year and hopefully turn it on by next July,” he said. 

The company is targeting 2500 tonnes of compostable product each week.

The MBT employed 120 people during construction by Lipman Pty Ltd, many of whom were local. There are also 18 ongoing jobs, also sourced locally. 

Ms Dougall said the facility was particularly valuable in context of the State’s waste reduction strategy and the fact that Sydney was running out of landfill space.

“We (SSROC) would need two more Woodlawns by 2036 alone (to cater for waste needs) if you add in the western Sydney and Macarthur growth regions). We need to plan now,” she said.

Goulburn Mulwaree Mayor Bob Kirk said the council was reviewing its waste strategy with the aim of reducing the amount going to landfill and extending the tip’s life. He told The Post there were no definitive plans to send waste to Woodlawn, including the MBT, but it could be a future option.

Also attending Friday’s ceremony were Hume MP Angus Taylor, NSW regional infrastructure coordinator and Veolia advisory board member Ken Gillespie, Veolia managing director and CEO, Doug Dean and senior management, Lipman Pty Ltd representatives, Crs Margaret O’Neill and Denzil Sturgiss and members of the Tarago community.