The Greater Bendigo City Council is set to enter into a 20-year waste service agreement that will modernise its waste management processes.
The agreement, with Advanced Energy Tech (AET), will see new sterilisation, sorting and recovery technology utilised to process the city’s general waste. This process will recover materials for recycling and repurposing rather than sending them to landfill.
City of Greater Bendigo Presentation and Assets Director, Brian Westley, said that while the site of the new municipal solid waste receival and treatment facility is yet to be determined, the city will work with AET to identify appropriately zoned land for the new facility to operate from.
“The facility must be located on industrial land within 25km of the City Centre. AET will be responsible for obtaining all relevant permits and meeting all regulatory requirements of relevant authorities including the Environment Protection Authority,” Mr Westley said.
“AET will design, build, own and operate the municipal solid waste receival and treatment facility which will divert approximately 95 per cent of the city’s waste material from landfill, while producing valuable resources for the circular economy.
“The new facility will consist of waste receival, material sterilisation, screening and sorting and product storage and transport areas.
“Subject to regulatory and planning approvals, the new facility will initially have the capacity to process up to 30,000t per annum with the ability to expand to up to 80,000t to support other regional local government areas in the future.”
Mr Westley said that it is expected to take five years for the facility to be operational, and that the city will supply 22,000t of waste to the facility each year, meaning it will no longer have to cart waste to the landfill at Patho near Echuca.
“The new facility would deliver an outcome which is environmentally and socially superior to landfilling valuable materials. It will deliver a service that is a comparable cost to existing practices. It is envisaged that the agreement with AET will reduce costs over the life of the contract given that the Victorian Government waste levy costs will continue to increase in the future.
“The new facility will also create new local jobs and has the potential to generate other complementary businesses.
“The last remaining cell at the Eaglehawk Landfill will soon reach capacity. Existing landfills are no longer sustainable and continuing to transport waste to other locations is not in line with the City’s Circular Economy and Zero Waste Policy and Climate Change and Environment Strategy 2021-2026.”
Mr Westley said that in 2022, Council provided in principle support to pursue a circular economy solution for its general waste.
“Introducing circular economy solutions such as this will change how we handle and value our material resources, keep them in use for as long as possible, create local jobs and support local industry in the future.
“By creating a circular economy, we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by current consumption and waste management practices, reduce valuable resources going to landfill, and create jobs and investment.”
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