Regional waste lead

Waste treatment is starting to emerge as a significant industry in Western Australia, led by regional councils that are backing major projects designed to divert municipal waste away from landfills.

The new projects are set to make a substantially positive environmental contribution and are also characterised by innovative financing arrangements, with a mix of public and private sector investment.

Construction of the state’s biggest municipal waste treatment plant, costing $80 million, is expected to commence early next year at Neerabup, north of Wanneroo, after the Mindarie Regional Council, which handles waste services for seven local councils, including the City of Perth, authorised completion of legal formalities.

The Neerabup plant will treat up to 100,000 tonnes of household waste annually and convert about 70 per cent of it into market-quality compost.

This follows the recent commencement of work on a 55,000t/year waste treatment facility at Shenton Park. Bentley company Anaeco, which has developed an innovative waste treatment system, is in the midst of a $5 million initial public offering to fund its share of the Shenton Park facility.

The new facilities follow the lead set by the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council, which has operated a waste treatment plant at Canning Vale for several years.

The plant has generated some controversy, with local residents complaining about foul odours. 

However, the council also recently won the federal government’s 2007 Greenhouse Challenge Plus award for outstanding achievement in greenhouse gas abatement.

The Neerabup facility will be designed, built, owned and operated for 20 years by special-purpose company BioVision 2020 Pty Ltd.

Macquarie Bank played a key role in the deal, acting as lead sponsor and financial adviser to BioVision 2020, which intends to engage waste management specialists SITA Environmental Solutions to operate the plant and Canadian company Conporec to supply the composting technology.

The shareholders in BioVision will be SITA Environmental Solutions’ parent company SembSITA, which in turn is jointly owned by giant French group Suez and Singapore’s Sembcorp, and an unnamed Australian superannuation fund.

The project has been subject to a number of protracted delays, arising from the complex contractual arrangements and the need to finalise the details of subcontractors and their contracts.

The project was also delayed when engineering group WorleyParsons Ltd, which had played a lead role, decided at the 11th hour to walk away from the deal to concentrate on big resource sector projects.

Its departure paved the way for SITA, which had been part of an unsuccessful bidding consortium, to get involved in the project.

The 100,000t facility is the first part of a three-stage project that will ultimately recycle most of the 350,000t of household waste currently dumped in the Tamala Park landfill each year.

“This project is the singularly most significant development in household waste disposal and treatment for the majority of people living in the Perth metropolitan area,” Mindarie chief executive Kevin Poynton said.

“It offers enormous benefits to the environment, in helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while converting waste products into an organic soil conditioner that can be used to enrich soils for growth of a range of natural plants and products.”

Meanwhile, the Shenton Park facility is being built by Anaeco in partnership with its financial backer Perpetual on behalf of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council.

The Anaeco technology generates compost and produces bioenergy from the same enclosed vessel, which is also designed to ensure odours do not become a problem.