Australia’s first major waste-to-energy plant has begun accepting waste, marking the start of a controversial nationwide shift to burning household waste to generate electricity.
At least 10 developments are underway across the country, which has alarmed some environmentalists who argue the trend is harmful to the environment and at odds with circular economy development plans.
Local councils have started sending waste trucks to the Kwinana Energy Recovery Facility in Perth’s south as the country’s first commercial-scale project moves towards full operation.
The Kwinana plant is designed to burn 460,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste a year – almost a quarter of what Perth sends to landfill.
Another 300,000 tonne per year generator is under construction just down the road in East Rockingham. Four permits have been issued for major waste-to-energy facilities in Victoria, and there are proposals in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. In total, the projects under development have the capacity to incinerate 2 million tonnes of waste per year, a quarter of what Australian households throw away.
Waste-to-energy in Australia has experienced increased interest due to the potential near landfill. Supporters say it could mean an end to landfills and that air and ash pollution could be managed under existing environmental regulations. particle for direct object
But not everyone is convinced. Environmental group Zero Waste Australia calls the approach “the most polluting and expensive way to generate energy and manage waste” and has raised concerns about the environmental and health implications.
Jane Bremer, the group’s campaign co-ordinator, said the number of energy-wasting schemes was “staggering” and a sign the incineration industry was trying to gain a foothold in Australia as it was being pushed out of Europe. Plants are shutting down.
Better than landfill?
The City of Gosnells, a council of 130,000 residents south-east of Perth, is among 10 local governments sending waste to Kwinana for incineration.
City Mayor Terresa Lynes says the change comes after a decade of planning, and a long-term contract with the facility will protect ratepayers from rising and unpredictable landfill fees.
“This is the end of the landfill for the city of Gosnells,” he says. He says the council is also focusing on recycling and green waste, emphasizing waste-to-energy is only “part of the solution”.
In recent years, waste-to-energy and circular economy policies in Western Australia, Victoria, NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania have favored waste-to-energy over landfill to dispose of non-recyclable waste. However, this practice is prohibited in the ACT.
Jennifer McLean, circular economy researcher at the Monash Institute for Sustainable Development, says the basic principle of the circular economy is to keep materials in circulation for as long as possible at their highest value, for example through repair and reuse.
He says the waste-to-energy process – which usually involves burning non-recyclable waste in large furnaces at high temperatures to generate electricity or heat – is the “least circular method” because the value of the material is lost.
Energy use “certainly has some advantages over landfilling,” McLean says, but there is a risk to higher-value reuse and recycling efforts.
Evidence from other countries shows that recycling rates increase after waste-to-energy plants are introduced, in part because once the infrastructure is in place “you’re locked into feeding it,” he says.
Waste-to-energy can also reduce motivation and participation in reuse and recycling at the household, organizational and even government level, he says.
NSW Chief Scientist Professor Hugh Durant-White provided independent advice on the technology to the NSW Government in 2020. Energy waste is well established in Europe, he said, but as some countries improve their efforts to reduce, sort, reuse and recycle. , some facilities were failing. They shut them down, not because of the greenhouse gas emissions, but because they have no more waste to burn.
Across Europe, there are around 500 waste-to-energy plants, but circular economy efforts have led some countries to reduce their reliance on the technology. For example, Denmark plans to reduce waste incineration capacity by 30% between 2020 and 2030.
Is electricity renewable from plastic?
Gail Sloan, CEO of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association, says that burning waste is better for the climate than creating methane in landfills. We should not throw things on the ground. “If we can’t recover it, we have to use it for energy.”
Government policies support this approach as an option for residual waste – the material left over after removing recyclable, green and food waste. In many states, this is the “red bin” waste, which contains soft plastics, diapers, and synthetic textiles.
In Australia, energy produced by burning plastic is not renewable, even if projects show their power is clean and green.
Acciona, owner of the Kwinana facility, says the waste-to-energy “addresses both the waste crisis and the need for clean, reliable electricity in WA”.
The WA facilities – Kwinana and East Rockingham – both received funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
While the projects had lower emissions than landfills, not all waste-to-energy facilities were “renewable” and the agency did not plan to support any new funding programs, an Arena spokeswoman said. “Arena’s investment priorities are not aligned with investments in subsequent waste-to-energy projects.”
“I’m hesitant to choose renewable energy,” says Durant White. But is it better than digging a hole and putting it in the ground? Yes.”
Contrary to industry claims, waste-to-energy does not divert waste from landfills, Bremer says. Combustion converts the material into a smaller volume of toxic waste ash, which is then disposed of as hazardous waste.
A better solution, he says, is to move away from a focus on disposal and move towards a more sustainable, zero-waste model.
The industry is really emerging as part of a circular economy, but it’s a linear process. Bremer says these materials are lost forever. You cannot take it back and reuse or recycle it. It’s gone.”
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