FEATURED TOPIC – WASTE TO ENERGY
Switched on RESOURCECO IS PLANNING A MULTI-PROJECT EXPANSION TO HARNESS THE ENERGY OF CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
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ustralia’s push to a circular economy is gaining impetus, but nearly 15 million tonnes of construction and demolition and commercial and industrial waste still ends up in landfill each year. Henry Anning, Chief Executive Officer of ResourceCo’s Energy Systems, says tackling this waste is at the forefront of a strategic plan that will open a pipeline of new resource recovery facilities for the company. ResourceCo is developing several projects in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia to divert more construction and demolition (C&D) and
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commercial and industrial (C&I) material from landfill. Leading the charge is a $50 million waste-to-energy facility in the South East Brisbane suburb of Hemmant to process C&I and mixed construction and demolition waste into Process Engineered Fuel (PEF). “It’s the first plant of its kind in the Queensland and Brisbane market which will allow a significant diversion of material from landfill,” says Henry. “It means more diversion from landfill, more recycling, more renewable energy, more jobs and more carbon abatement.”
The Hemmant plant has been partly funded through the Queensland Government Resource Recovery Industry Development Program. Since 2018 the program, which is part of the $3.34 billion Queensland Jobs Fund, has supported 29 projects that will divert 1.3 million tonnes of waste from landfill each year and create more than 360 jobs across Queensland. Construction of the ResourceCo facility will begin in the first quarter of 2022 and it is expected to be operational by mid-2023. The plant will replicate ResourceCo’s joint
