Regional circular economy practices

NSW Circular recently caught up with Henry Gundy, the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct Manager who runs the innovative and high-tech waste management system owned by Veolia at Goulburn, south of Sydney. Instead of sending household waste to landfill, a number of Councils in Sydney send their residual waste for processing at Veolia’s new Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) facility. Woodlawn has prioritised sustainable and innovative waste management practices including:

1) Landfill gas engines that recover up to 7 megawatts of clean energy from what would otherwise be gas-emitting waste material;

2) Agriculture incorporating a working farm that applies nutrient and grazing rotation to help manage and understand impacts on the site;

3) Aquaculture and horticulture capturing waste heat from energy production and using it for fish farming and hydroponic horticulture;

4) Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) extracting organic content from the waste to produce compost for environmental rehabilitation;

5) A windfarm (operated by Infigen Energy) that harnesses 48.3 megawatts of clean energy per year.

6) A solarfarm utilising increased sun exposure from cleared land to produces 2.5 megawatts of clean energy per year.

Read the full case study here.