The Coffs Harbour City Council Landfill Legacy Emissions Avoidance Project

The Coffs Harbour City Council Landfill Legacy Emissions Avoidance Project is a landfill gas project located at the Englands Road Waste Management Facility in Coffs Harbour, a major coastal city on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Registered in August 2013, the exact spatial area is undefined as it operates within the footprint of the municipal landfill.

Landfill gas projects involve the installation of infrastructure to capture and combust methane gas generated by decomposing organic waste. By converting the methane into carbon dioxide, a less potent greenhouse gas, via flares or electricity generators, these projects significantly reduce the site's overall global warming potential. This specific transitioning project captures gas from both legacy and non-legacy waste.

The surrounding Coffs Harbour region is highly regarded for its coastal tourism and intensive horticulture, particularly the cultivation of bananas and blueberries. The area features a humid subtropical climate characterised by high rainfall, averaging over 1,700mm annually. The regional soils vary from coastal sands to alluvial clays, with localized occurrences of acid sulfate soils in lower-lying coastal and estuarine zones.

The project originally transitioned from a revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method and underwent subsequent variations in 2015 and 2024 to update its methodology. In April 2016, the project secured a Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC102339) with the Commonwealth, which was successfully completed in January 2024 after delivering 21,382 ACCUs. In 2023, the project attracted local attention when the City of Coffs Harbour was fined $20,000 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority. An investigation revealed that poor maintenance and a blocked gas flow line in the landfill's gas extraction system had caused significant odour complaints from nearby residents between 2020 and 2021, prompting required remediation work on the capture infrastructure.