Woodlawn Bioreactor Project

Woodlawn Bioreactor Project is a landfill gas capture project located at Tarago, approximately 39km south of Goulburn in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. It was registered in May 2013. While the exact project area size is not specified on the register, it operates on a massive scale, situated within a former open-cut copper, lead, and zinc mine void. The facility is now one of the largest purpose-built landfill projects in the world. The surrounding Tarago region is predominantly characterised by sheep and cattle grazing, agriculture, and forestry.

Landfill gas projects under this methodology involve the installation of infrastructure to capture and combust methane gas generated by decomposing putrescible waste. This project transitioned from an earlier, revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method and continues to safely capture and combust gas generated from both legacy and non-legacy waste at the facility. The captured methane is harnessed to generate clean electricity, preventing potent greenhouse gases from freely entering the atmosphere.

The Tarago region experiences a moderate climate, generally recording an average annual rainfall of approximately 600mm to 700mm. The naturally occurring soils in the surrounding agricultural areas consist of acidic, granite-derived duplex soils, lithosols, and kandosols. However, due to its history as an expansive open-cut mine, the bioreactor site itself is defined by highly disturbed anthropogenic soils, rock batters, and exposed mine shafts, with little to no original topsoil remaining.

The Woodlawn site, managed by VELMS Joint Venture Pty Ltd (transitioned from Veolia Environmental Services), is a fascinating example of circular economy practices. The facility receives up to 20% of Sydney's putrescible waste, which is safely transported to the site via rail. The site uses the captured biogas to power generators capable of supplying renewable electricity to over 10,000 households. Most uniquely, the project's operators have taken advantage of the excess heat produced by these generators to run an onsite commercial aquaculture facility. Originally established as a trial, it now successfully farms barramundi to supply the local Canberra market, maximizing the resource recovery potential of the precinct.