Landfill project worth 280,000 trees

Published on 17 May 2021

A gas management project at Corangamite Regional Landfill will be equivalent to planting 280,000 trees or taking 3500 cars of the road each year.

Corangamite Shire Council has partnered with South Australian company LMS Energy to build a landfill biogas flaring facility.

The project will combust landfill biogas in a fully contained unit which will be built to meet all relevant approvals.

It will abate an estimated 17,000 tonnes of carbon (CO2e) a year and extract an estimated 1,750,000 cubic metres of landfill biogas a year. That’s enough to fill 700 Olympic swimming pools.

Mayor Ruth Gstrein said all landfills created gasses as waste breaks down and flaring will help keep emissions within EPA guidelines.

“Council investigated various options for gas management and we found that managing it ourselves would have cost $1 million to set up and operate over the next 10 years,” Cr Gstrein said.

“It would also need advanced technical skills we don’t have. The partnership with LMS will turn the gas from a liability that needs to be managed, to an asset that can be traded for green credits.”

“Council has entered into a long-term arrangement with LMS that will provide commercial benefits for both parties”

If gas production reaches sufficient volumes, installing power generators may become viable. Sites have been pre-designated to sub-lease to LMS so it can install generation equipment in the future.

The flare is expected to be operational in 18 months.

LMS Contract and Client Manager Jason Dockerill said landfill biogas is made up of approximately 50% methane which is a potent greenhouse gas 28 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.

“This project will help prevent greenhouse gas emissions being released into the Earth’s atmosphere.”

LMS has over 50 biogas projects across Australia and New Zealand.

More information on the technology can be found here.