Organics Infrastructure: Stream 1 – Organics Processing Infrastructure grant project summaries

Veolia Environmental Services (Australia) Pty Ltd

Woodlawn food organics and garden organics (FOGO) transition project – $1,000,000

The Woodlawn Mechanical and Biological Treatment facility in Tarago, NSW will be modified to enable the processing of source separated food and garden organics (FOGO) waste alongside its current household waste processing. This additional infrastructure is required to facilitate the processing of FOGO. It will separate organic and inorganic waste. Once the FOGO processing line is implemented at the facility, it will have the capacity to process 30,000 tonnes of FOGO annually.

Australian Native Landscapes Pty Ltd

ANL Badgerys Creek FOGO Tunnel Processing – $2,915,000

Australian Native Landscapes will expand the processing capacity of its Badgerys Creek facility to process 45,000 tonnes more food and garden waste into compost each year. Currently destined for landfill, the food organics and garden organics (FOGO) will come from household kerbside green lid bin collections, private food and garden organic waste generators and businesses engaged in the Bin Trim program.

BetterGROW Pty Limited

Wetherill Park organics recovery and recycling facility – $1,455,907

BetterGROW will construct a 30,000 tonne per annum organics resource recovery facility (ORRF) at Wetherill Park to receive and process food waste supplied from source separated commercial and industrial collection services. All organics coming into the ORRF will be processed to provide recovered food organics material for green energy production and nutrient rich soil conditioners. This funding will also be used to purchase a food de-packaging plant and associated mobile plant and equipment.

Lockhart Shire Council

Lockhart organics processing facility – $132,400

Lockhart Council will construct an organics processing facility (OPF) at council's main landfill site. This facility will divert council's kerbside food and garden organics collected and processed into compost. The project will include community education and council-delivered training and jobs to community members.

Morellofert Pty Ltd

Morellofert organics recycling facility project – $400,000

Morellofert will develop a 10,000 tonne per annum organics recycling facility (ORF) to process food organics and garden organics (FOGO) into compost. This ORF will process garden organics from the community and from future FOGO kerbside collection services for Wentworth Shire Council. The project will produce quality compost from household and business food waste and improve local soils.

Richmond Valley Council

Richmond Valley FOGO composting facility – $240,720

Richmond Valley Council will construct a new facility to process the food and garden organics (FOGO) from household kerbside collections. The collected material will be processed into compost and made available for residents to purchase. This will allow council to process 5,000 tonnes of organics waste annually.

Snowy Valleys Council

Snowy Valleys Council composting facility – $946,924

Snowy Valleys Council will build a composting facility to process organic waste from an existing green waste drop-off service and new food organics garden organics (FOGO) kerbside service being introduced. The facility will be operated by Valmar Support Services and create local employment opportunities for people with a disability. The site will have the capacity to process 10,000 tonnes a year of FOGO and garden organics and produce more than1500 tonnes of premium compost, which will be used in council landscaping and marketed to local farmers.

WormTech Pty Ltd

Carrathool organics facility expansion – $756,924

This project will increase the capacity of the Carrathool Organics Processing facility to process organic waste into compost. The project includes a picking station to assist with decontamination of input material and will divert more food waste from landfill to be processed into a beneficial product.

In the 2018 round the Environmental Trust approved 4 grants, totalling $7,041,851.

EarthPower Technologies Sydney

EarthPower Expansion - AD upgrade – $2,225,750

Earth Power is an anaerobic digestion facility processing more than 52,500 tonnes of commercial and residential food waste a year. Upgrades with grant funding in 2014-2015 increased capacity by 7,500 tonnes per annum (tpa) and involved the installation of a biogas mixing system, upgrading of the water treatment systems to accommodate the additional throughput and upgrades to the control systems. This grant project will increase the processing capacity by an additional 10,000 tpa.  The upgrades include expanding the enclosed receival area, installing depackaging equipment and installation of a predigester. This will also allow EarthPower to accept compostable packaging.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council

Waste Management Centre - Organic Recycling Infrastructure Upgrade – $392,063

This project will expand the existing 2,400 square metre organics processing pad located at the Goulburn Waste Management Centre by more than 300 per cent to 7,200 square metres. This will enable council to process the anticipated increase in household food and garden organics (FOGO) collected when a full FOGO service is rolled out.  The acquisition of a front-end loader, dedicated to the composting will improve efficiency, producing higher volumes of commercial grade compost. This project will assist with transforming the traditional landfill facility into a modern waste facility.

SOILCO Pty Limited

Kembla Grange Composting and Manufacturing Facility– $1,424,038

This project supports the construction of a new organics Composting and Manufacturing Facility  to process 40,000 tonnes per annum of garden, timber and food waste materials at Kembla Grange NSW. The facility will process 30,000 tonnes of organics received at other SOILCO facilities, as well as have capacity for a further 10,000 tonnes of food and garden organics that is currently landfilled.

Tamworth Regional Council

Tamworth Regional Organics Recycling Facility – $3,000,000

Council plans to invest more than $13 million in an advanced Organics Recycling Facility, with the assistance of this grant funding. The project will enhance organics recycling services to the community, implement food and garden organics collections and provide an alternative to landfill disposal for commercial and industrial organic waste. 35,000 tonnes of organics will be diverted from landfill each year and will be manufactured into quality recycled organic products for sale to residents, landscapers, the agriculture industry and council.

In the 2017 round the Environmental Trust approved 4 grants, totalling $2,704,912.

Armidale Regional Council

Armidale organics processing expansion project – $208,400

As part of Armidale Dumaresq Council’s winning Resources Recovery and Waste Management program, council’s City to Soil program has seen organic-waste collection programs service over 10,000 homes in Armidale, diverting 2300 tonnes of waste from landfill each year. With the merging of Armidale Dumaresq and Guyra Shire Councils to form Armidale Regional Council, this project will enable the extension of the service to the entire Armidale Regional Council area, diverting organic waste from landfill by reaching an additional 1250 households and supporting local businesses’ initiatives to reduce their waste.

Loop Organics Pty Ltd

Hunter Valley composting and processing facility – $496,512

The Loop Organics composting and processing facility is an organics processing facility located within a former mine site in the Hunter Valley. The facility will process biosolids, food and garden organics and other organic wastes from the Hunter, Central Coast and Sydney to create a valuable, high-quality topsoil. This product will be used in rehabilitation of former coal-mining areas into productive agricultural use and native vegetation.

Muswellbrook Shire Council

Muswellbrook Shire Council organics recycling facility – $500,000

This project will expand the council’s organics recycling program, with the development of an organics recycling facility (ORF) located at Muswellbrook Waste Management Facility. The ORF will be developed with the capacity to process up to 10,000 tonnes per annum of food and garden organics (FOGO). This project will provide processing capacity for a future FOGO kerbside collection service for both Muswellbrook Shire and surrounding councils because no alternative facility with this capability currently exists in the region.

Newcastle City Council

Summerhill Organics Recycling Facility – $1,500,000

This project will expand council’s organics recycling program, with the establishment of an organics recycling facility (ORF) that can process food and garden organic (FOGO) waste. A partially enclosed aerated static pile (ASP) composting facility is proposed with a design capacity of 35,000 tonnes per annum with potential for increased capacity and the ability to process category 3 organics. It will provide the necessary processing capacity for a FOGO kerbside collection service for the Newcastle local-government area. While 2 facilities of this type are being developed, no alternative facility exists with this capability in the region.

In the 2016 round the Environmental Trust approved 5 grants, totalling $1,780,500.

3 Pallaettes

3 Pallaettes – $295,600

3 Pallaettes will address a local need on the Central Coast by providing an open-windrow composting system for organic wastes that would otherwise be sent to landfill, and producing a premium-grade humified soil conditioner. The compost will be specifically suitable for the horticultural industries in the surrounding area, providing a local solution for local waste, value-added and able to be returned to local soils.

Australian Native Landscapes Pty Ltd

ANL Food and Garden Organics Processing Facility, Wyong – $911,400

Australian Native Landscapes will process an additional of 20,000 tonnes of food and garden organic waste currently destined for landfill each year at its licensed facility in Wyong. This project will increase capacity to receive and process food waste from business, complementing existing composting operations for green waste, post-consumer wood waste and biosolids.

Byron Shire Council

Byron Garden Organics Processing and Recovery – $118,500

The Byron Garden Organics Processing and Recovery project will enable the shire’s self-hauled garden waste to be processed into a quality mulch product compost. Specially designed pasteurisation bays will be built to enable the garden waste to be processed into a marketable product for sale from the council’s resource-recovery facility.

Lord Howe Island Board

Upgrade of the LHIB waste management facility – $255,000

The Lord Howe Island Board will upgrade its existing waste management facility to start processing organic waste that is currently being stockpiled. The funding will help close the loop at Lord Howe Island, by producing a pasteurised, composted product generated from household food and garden waste to be returned to the community. The project supports the Island’s UNESCO World Heritage status by supporting more effective management of waste with minimal impact to the natural environment.

Revolve Your World

Revolve Your World commercial food-waste collection strategy: stage 2 – $200,000

The Revolve Your World commercial food-waste collection strategy will provide a dedicated commercial food-waste collection service to pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes and supermarkets in Byron Shire. The collection process includes a detailed data collection and audit program to reduce contamination. Revolve Your World uses in-vessel technology to process food waste into a high quality biological compost, which will be sold back into the community to help provide localised organic food-security systems.

In the 2015 round the Environmental Trust approved 10 grants, totalling $11,582,309.

* March 2017 update. Murray River Council have declined the offer of funding.

Australian Native Landscapes Pty Ltd

Tea Gardens FOGO processing – $1,300,000

Tea Gardens has been identified as an ideal location to expand existing organics processing activities to include food and garden organics (FOGO) processing. The ANL Tea Gardens site currently processes less than 20,000 tonnes per annum of wood waste. The project will install new infrastructure to process 30,000 tonnes per annum of FOGO from surrounding councils and commercial generators.

BetterGrow Pty Limited

Integrated Organics Resource Recovery and Composting Facilities – $4,500,000

The Integrated Organics Resource Recovery and Composting Facilities project is a partnership between BetterGrow and Transpacific Cleanaway. The construction of a centrally located organics resource-recovery facility at Wetherill Park and the Greenspot Bathurst composting facility form an integrated processing system for food and garden organic materials sourced from the municipal kerbside and commercial collection services. The project will install specialist equipment to process 100,000 tonnes per year of source-separated organic materials, producing quality-assured compost and soil improvement products suitable for large-scale agricultural, mining and urban landscape applications. Significant community, social and environmental benefits flow from this project, including regional employment, improved productivity of agricultural soils, preservation of cultural heritage, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and conserved landfill space.

Carbon Mate Pty Ltd

CMOR: Expansion and relocation of composting operations – $987,500

Carbon Mate plans to relocate and expand the Carbon Mate Organic Recyclers (CMOR) compost facility. The existing CMOR facility is located within the Gregadoo Waste Management Centre (GWMC) and occupies 3 hectares on top of an old solid-waste cell. This project is to establish a 5-hectare organics facility, within GWMC, on a suitable level site and further from receptors. This facility would process organic waste currently being disposed of to GWMC landfill, provide a sustainable, integrated facility that increases the lifespan of the landfill, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, enhance resource recovery, stimulate the productive economy, and improve soil and biodiversity.

Greater Taree City Council

The Bucketts Way composting facility – $340,000

Council proposes the construction and operation of an aerated static pile composting facility based on the mobile aerated floor (MAF) system at its Bucketts Way Waste Management Centre. Council’s existing kerbside organics collection service will be expanded to include food waste and additional organic inputs will be sought from the commercial sector. It is anticipated up to 12,000 tonnes per annum of organic material will be composted and sold to a variety of customers, including landscape suppliers, farmers and horticulturists, as well as the council for use in its parks, playing fields and nature strips. Substantial social, economic and environmental benefits will flow from this endeavour.

Murray River Council

Murray Shire Council organics processing facility – $225,000

(March 2017 update: Murray River Council has declined the offer of funding.)

Murray Shire Council intends to construct a high-quality organics-processing facility in the region to process organic waste including the organic material from the food organics and garden organics kerbside collection service. The combination of these projects will divert more than 1890 tonnes of organic waste a year from landfill and increase the region’s diversion rate to 63%, approaching the statewide target for 2021.

North-West Recycling Centre

North-West Recycling Centre Green Waste Only expansion project – $457,500

The North-West Recycling Centre Green Waste Only expansion project has identified opportunities to divert from landfill green waste from small-to-medium enterprises and green waste captured from the construction and demolition and commercial and industrial waste streams. The location in the Blacktown council area provides an alternative to large-scale facilities outside the local area, saving valuable time and money for small businesses. The expansion captures large-scale green waste from demolition and industrial waste streams that would otherwise be landfilled for operational ease. Furthermore, it offers a closed-loop process where materials are received, processed and returned to the market place.

Pulpmaster Australia Pty Ltd

Pulpmaster’s organic waste producing green fuel for industry – $1,448,587

Pulpmaster will construct a 30,000 tonne per annum anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Horsley Park to provide a closed-loop organic waste collection and energy-generation service. The organic waste is processed onsite within businesses regionally before being collected. The pulped food waste will be converted into biogas for sale and organic fertiliser/brick filler. The AD plant will provide over 100 terajoules of biogas to Brickworks Pty Ltd operations at its Horsley Park production facility.

Soilco Pty Limited

Enhance organics processing infrastructure at Soilco’s Wogamia facility – $483,722

Soilco proposes to collect and divert 2000 tonnes per annum of food waste from the Shoalhaven region. In doing so, a commercial collection and small vehicle collection point will be established and the company’s Nowra facility will be upgraded to include additional process control infrastructure. The enhanced facility will provide significant environmental benefits to current and future operations.

Tamworth Regional Council

Tamworth Regional Council Organics Recycling Facility (ORF) – $1,350,000

This project will expand council’s organics recycling program, with a new, better-located organics recycling facility that can process food, garden and other organic waste. A covered aerated static pile composting facility is proposed with increased capacity, potential to expand to 30,000 tonnes per annum and the ability to process category three organics. It will provide processing capacity for a future food and garden organics (FOGO) kerbside collection service while servicing the regions identified need for commercial category 3 organics.

Weston Aluminium Pty Limited

Weston Organics processing facility – $490,000

Weston Aluminium will establish a garden and food organics processing facility in Kurri Kurri to complement the Hunter Industrial Ecology Park’s broader resource recovery operations. The facility will utilise an enclosed mobile aerated floor system and will divert 20,000 tonnes per annum of organic material from landfill, specifically commercially generated food and garden organics and domestic garden organics (drop-off). Weston Aluminium will draw upon the experience and expertise of C-Wise to ensure the project’s success, and will sell quality composts, mulches and soil conditioners to local farmers, councils and the community, and for mine rehabilitation, as appropriate.

In the 2014 round the Environmental Trust approved 7 grants, totalling $7,182,850.

Amiterre Ag Solutions

Healthy soil, healthy food – $492,000

The Paddock to Plate to Paddock project focuses on converting food and garden waste into high-grade composted soil conditioner for farms. A 4-stage project across 2 sites will result in 20,000 additional tonnes of food and garden waste diverted from landfill to be composted and beneficially used in agricultural production.

Cooma–Monaro Shire Council

Cooma Compost Organics Farm infrastructure upgrade program – $104,000

Council will fast-track the extension of the Compost Organics Farm. Funding for a larger composting pad, a screen and water cart will enable the council to continue to produce quality compost while offering a regional solution for organic waste currently landfilled.

EarthPower

EarthPower food organics processing increase – $887,850

EarthPower is a food-organics-to-energy facility, offering a closed-loop solution through generation of green electricity and fertiliser. The grant project expands the existing processing capacity by 7500 tonnes a year to a maximum processing capacity of 52,500 tonnes. The project involves upgrading the digesters with a biogas mixing system and upgrades to wastewater treatment systems.

Lake Macquarie City Council

Awaba alternative waste treatment facility for organics processing – $1,399,000

This project aims to increase the capacity of a proposed 30,000 tonnes a year aerobic in-vessel composting facility for food and garden waste to process 44,000 tonnes a year. A larger facility, next-door to the existing Awaba Waste Management Facility, will cater for the council’s needs now and in the future, taking into account anticipated population growth and the popularity of its new kerbside food-collection service.

Lismore City Council

Lismore City Council food and garden organic recycling facility expansion – $350,000

Council will upgrade and expand the existing organics recycling facility at the Lismore Recycling and Recovery Centre, replacing the existing open windrow system with a covered aerated static pile system to process an extra 4600 tonnes of food and garden organic waste a year.

Shellharbour City Council

Dunmore resource recovery redevelopment: organics processing facility – $1,850,000

Council’s resource recovery redevelopment will initially result in 20,000 tonnes of food and garden waste collected from households in Shellharbour and Kiama council areas processed into compost. The organics processing facility will replace the existing open-air vegetation mulching process with an enclosed receive hall, computer-controlled composting tunnels and bio-filters to control any odours.

Tweed Shire Council

Tweed organics processing facility – $2,100,000

Council will invite tenders for the design and construction of a new fully enclosed organics processing facility at Slotts Creek Resource Recovery Centre. The new facility will enable council to offer a food and garden kerbside collection service to households as well as update the current mulching operations for vegetation waste.

In the 2013 round the Environmental Trust approved 8 grants, totalling $13,187,637.

Australian Native Landscapes

ANL FOGO processing: Badgerys Creek and Blayney – $3,673,204

Australian Native Landscapes (ANL) will install specialist equipment at its Badgerys Creek transfer station to screen, shred and load food and garden organic waste collected from kerbsides and businesses across Sydney. The part-processed waste will then be transported to Australian Native Landscape’s (ANL) facility at Blayney where it will undergo further processing for distribution and sale. Building on experience from similar existing operations at Badgerys Creek, Kimbriki and Blayney, ANL anticipates the project will boost capacity to process an extra 50,000 tonnes of organic waste a year, diverting the waste from landfill and producing a high-quality commercial recycled organic product. The project is estimated to generate up to 18 new jobs.

Broken Hill City Council

Enhancement of local processing of green waste at Broken Hill – $36,000

Broken Hill City Council will divert approximately 2000 tonnes more of organics from landfill by tackling the issue of contamination in kerbside collections and self-haul organics dropped off at the Broken Hill Waste Management Centre. The project will involve community education as well as a new equipment to screen raw and processed organics.

Carbon Mate Pty Ltd

Carbon Mate organic recyclers: site relocation and expansion – $952,500

The Carbon Mate Pty Ltd project will relocate, expand, and improve the current Carbon Mate Organics Recycling Facility in Wagga Wagga. Still located within Gregadoo Waste Management Centre, the new facility will be further from homes, include a receiving and decontamination shed, and a mobile aerated floor composting system. The project will be undertaken in 2015 once a public-private partnership has been formed with Wagga Wagga City Council.

Dubbo City Council

Dubbo regional organics processing facility – $3,259,300

Council will build an enclosed tunnel composting facility at Whylandra Waste and Recycling Centre to compost organic waste sourced primarily from its proposed new kerbside organics collection service. The Whylandra facility, where residents can already drop off waste and recyclables, will become a ‘one-stop shop’ where they can also drop off organic waste and purchase high-quality compost products. Support from the NSW Government’s Waste Less Recycle More program will help provide the necessary capital funding for the facility, which will feature rainwater capture and bio filters to reduce odours. The project is expected to create about 4 to 5 full time jobs when operational.

Newcastle City Council

The Summerhill composting facility – $1,796,250

Council will construct a regional composting facility to create a valuable soil rehabilitation product. The project will involve building a new facility at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre, which will compost food and garden waste from households and businesses using covered windrows and a forced aeration system. The facility will be designed to process 36,000 tonnes in its initial stages, with flexibility to handle additional food and garden waste in in the future.

SITA Australia Pty Ltd

Lucas Heights organics resource recovery facility expansion – $2,587,950

SITA Australia will boost compost production at its Lucas Heights Garden Organics processing facility by 60% to divert 80,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill a year. The project will involves relocating the facility to a new position on the site, building a new, partially enclosed, aerated floor bunker and covering active compost areas with new-technology covers. The infrastructure upgrades will improve efficiency, environmental performance and reduce odours as well as increase the capacity of the facility, turning more garden waste from kerbside collections across Sydney into beneficial compost. The project will also generate 10 new jobs.

Soilco Pty Limited

Construct processing building to include aerated storage bunkers – $810,000

The Soilco facility at Kembla Grange is expanding to process an additional 4000 tonnes a year of food waste from supermarkets, pubs, clubs and hotels. The food waste is mixed with garden material from council collections and made into quality compost suitable for landscaping. The upgrades will include aerated composting bunkers to better control the pasteurisation process of composting and decrease the risk of odours.

Transpacific Cleanaway Pty Ltd

Enhancement of Moree compost facility – $72,433

Transpacific Cleanaway currently operates a composting facility at Moree that processes 3200 tonnes of food and garden waste a year, collected from households in Moree, Narrabri and Gwydir council areas. New concreted areas and a trommel screen will allow the facility to expand. An extra 800 tonnes of self-haul garden material that is currently mulched will be made into compost. Supermarkets, cafes and pubs will have an alternative to disposing of their food waste to landfill.