Mirabooka Landfill Gas Project

Mirabooka Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas capture and combustion project located at the former Atlas landfill site in Mirrabooka, a northern suburb situated approximately 12km north of the Perth CBD in Western Australia. The project was registered in August 2012 by the proponent LMS Energy Pty Ltd. While the specific project area size is undefined on the public register, it operates strictly within the footprint of the established landfill facility, surrounded by an urbanized residential and commercial land-use region.

Landfill gas projects operating under the Carbon Farming Initiative methodology involve installing specialized gas collection infrastructure to capture and combust methane emissions that are naturally generated by decomposing organic waste (including both legacy and non-legacy waste). By sending the captured landfill gas to a combustion device such as a flare or an engine, the project converts methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, into carbon dioxide and water vapor, substantially reducing the site's global warming potential.

The local environment in the Perth metropolitan region features a Mediterranean climate, characterized by hot, dry summers and moderate to high winter rainfall. The local soils on this part of the Swan Coastal Plain are dominated by highly permeable coastal sands.

This project has a notable regulatory and operational history. It transitioned from an older, revoked 'CFI' method to the 2015 Landfill Gas methodology to continue its crediting period. The project successfully delivered on a Commonwealth carbon abatement contract (CAC362004), which was officially completed in April 2022. Interestingly, because the landfill was originally unlined and built on porous sandy soil, the Western Australian Government banned the dumping of new putrescible (organic) waste at the site in 1997 to protect the local groundwater. The site has remained a focal point for local environmental regulation; in late 2024, an application by the site's operators to accept asbestos-containing material was formally refused by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation following immense community opposition and proximity to local schools.