An Australia first project being touted as a major step forward in environmentally sustainable waste management has been labelled a “load of rubbish” by the Greens.
An application to build a $400 million plant which would turn waste into energy has been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency.
South Metropolitan Region MLC Phil Edman said the facility, proposed for Kwinana would create 60 megawatts of power, enough to power 60,000 houses.
Melbourne based Phoenix Energy are behind the plan.
Mr Edman said the waste-to-energy facility was for waste currently going to landfill.
“Recyclable material will continue to be recycled,” he said.
Mr Edman said it was what went into the green garbage bins, which was not recycled, that would be used to create energy.
“With this process there is no landfill, you get electricity and the aggregate left is used to make bricks,” he said.
Mr Edman said not only was the proposal environmentally friendly, but also cheaper for council rate-payers.
“The cost per tonne is to be significantly cheaper than the current cost of almost $200 per tonne for the South Metropolitan Regional Councils.”
Greens MLC Robin Chapple said turning waste into energy required incineration and should be a last resort.
“If the waste hierarchy is well applied, and resources recovered, reused, recycled and reprocessed in a sustainable manner, there should be no need for these expensive technologies to be employed,” he said.
“These technologies are appropriate in the context of cities which have no other alternatives to waste issues.
“Perth is not one of those cities – there is much more we can do to reduce waste to landfill before we start employing technologies of last resort.
“I’m also concerned that this technology will divert feedstock from other, more sustainable waste solutions, such as the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council’s Regional Resource Recovery Centre – which genuinely works on the principles of waste hierarchy, diverting waste from landfill and reusing the recovered resources in a sustainable manner.”
