Eastern Creek UR-3R Facility

Eastern Creek UR-3R Facility is an Alternative Waste Treatment project located at Eastern Creek, approximately 35km west of the Sydney CBD in New South Wales. It was registered in April 2013 and covers an unspecified area.

Alternative waste treatment projects involve diverting mixed solid waste away from traditional landfills to dedicated treatment facilities. By processing this waste using technologies like enclosed composting, these projects significantly reduce the methane emissions that would normally be generated as organic matter decays in a landfill setting.

The Eastern Creek area is heavily developed and is known for commercial, industrial, and waste management operations. The broader Western Sydney area is considered to have moderate rainfall, and its soils are generally clay-based and derived from underlying shale.

This project transitioned from a revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method and continues to divert solid waste to its processing facility. Originally established in 2004 as a public-private partnership, the UR-3R (Urban Resource - Reduction, Recovery and Recycling) plant is recognized as one of the largest alternative waste treatment facilities in the southern hemisphere. The project was contracted under the Australian Government's carbon abatement purchasing scheme in November 2015, and this contract was successfully completed in November 2022 after delivering 872,037 Australian Carbon Credit Units to the Commonwealth.