By Esther Lauaki
Generating energy from Wyndham’s waste could become reality under a new council plan that maps the future of the Werribee tip.
The Wyndham Refuse Disposal Facility Strategic Plan outlines six goals for the coming six years, in a bid to transition from a traditional landfill to a resource and energy recovery operation.
Wyndham mayor Mia Shaw said that under the plan, the only waste going to landfill will be the leftovers following the recovery of resources.
“In Wyndham alone, we’re facing an increase from the current 103,000 tonnes to more than 180,000 tonnes each year,” Cr Shaw said.
“As the only remaining council in Melbourne to still control a commercial landfill, we are in a unique position to provide best practice waste collection, treatment and disposal, while working with other councils to divert waste from landfill.”
Wyndham council Cr Shaw said the plan would include developing a pre-sort facility at the RDF in Werribee.
“This facility would ensure that all incoming waste would be subject to a sorting operation that recovers valuable resources, such as organics,” she said.
“These organics would then be processed by anaerobic digestion, to produce methane to generate energy, and organic materials that could be used in landfill rehabilitation works.
“Another goal outlined in this plan is the recovery of energy from residual waste.
“While we’re still working out the finer details of this plan – there are two options currently before us.
“The first would see residual waste from the recovery stage provided to an external third-party user as solid residual fuel, while the second is around the investigation of the potential for recovering energy from waste.
“This would be in the form of a whole new kerbside food and garden organics service.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne-based company SKM Recycling on Thursday night contacted local governments to inform them it would immediately stop accepting recyclables.
Wyndham’s recyclable materials are processed by Visy Recycling and collections are not affected by SKM’s decision.
