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, approximately 4km southwest of the Coffs Harbour CBD in New South Wales. Registered in August 2013, the project operates within a region characterized by high rainfall coastal environments, forestry, and intensive horticulture, particularly the banana and blueberry farming industries common to the Mid North Coast.

Landfill gas projects operate by installing a network of wells and pipes to capture methane, a potent greenhouse gas produced by decomposing organic waste. Under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015, this captured gas is combusted (typically flared or used to generate electricity), converting the methane into carbon dioxide and significantly reducing its global warming potential. This specific project captures gas generated from both legacy (pre-2012) and non-legacy waste.

The Coffs Harbour area is classified as a high-rainfall zone, receiving an average of over 1,700mm of rain annually. The local terrain features soils that range from alluvial loams on the floodplains to the clay-rich Red Podzolic soils often found on the surrounding slopes.

The project successfully completed its Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC102339) in January 2024, delivering 21,382 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to the Commonwealth. While the project has generated significant abatement, it has faced operational challenges; in June 2023, the Coffs Harbour City Council was fined by the NSW EPA for failing to efficiently maintain gas flowlines at the site between 2020 and 2021, an incident which led to increased fugitive emissions.