The NSW Government has released the Energy From Waste (EfW) Infrastructure Plan. The Plan outlines how the NSW Government will support innovative ways of managing waste, drive investment into the bush and provide certainty for communities.
Energy from waste is a processing method that turns waste that would normally be designated to landfill into useable energy. Typically, waste is moved by rail or road to these facilities.
Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM congratulated the NSW Government for their EfW Infrastructure Plan, which will give certainty for communities and investors, by creating opportunities for NSW to lead the way in the delivery of world-class alternative energy products.
The Parkes Special Activation Precinct has been identified as one of the priority locations to host a waste from energy facility, along with West Lithgow Precinct, Richmond-Valley Regional Jobs Precinct and Southern Goulburn Mulwaree Precinct.
As part of the Parkes Special Activation Precinct Master Plan an area for resource recovery and recycling was set aside.
The Mayor said, "To the NSW Government's great credit, the identification of sites has been done on merit, which took into consideration the proximity to residential areas, and to efficient transport links. These are state-of-the-art facilities with the world's best technology, which will drive waste from landfill into energy creation.
"Examples of EfW facilities can be found all over the world from Europe to Asia. This is proven technology and plays a role along-side other recycling technologies, in providing an end-of-life waste alternative to landfilling in keeping with circular economy principles. It's about changing our thinking on waste from it being a problem that we bury, to an asset that helps us attract and build industry and jobs in a sustainable way. These facilities are multimillion dollar investments and create substantial jobs," said Cr Keith.
This legislation provides certainty for those wishing to develop an EfW plant and certainty for residents concerned about where EfW plants may develop across NSW.
Under the Plan, operators of energy from waste projects will be required to make emissions data available to the community in real time online, to boost community confidence and transparency.
These facilities provide a dedicated area for essential waste and resource recovery that allows for a variety of new recycling and reprocessing industries. There is also a great opportunity for resource recovery research.
The location within the Parkes Special Activation Precinct is also perfect from a logistics perspective being at the intersection of national rail networks. Even though the latest filtration technology makes energy from waste virtually pollution-free, wide buffer zones are built into the 4800ha precinct design, which makes the activation precinct the perfect location. Air quality and odour will be monitored across the precinct.
Water used during the process is captured and recycled at a precinct level and on-site. Any heat and steam generated as part of the process could be used in the Special Activation Precinct for processing and manufacturing of agricultural value adding industries, while electricity can be fed into the national grid or used within the precincts to power collocated industry.
