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 the boundaries of the council's primary waste disposal site, which is bordered by the Boambee State Forest. The facility manages the region's municipal solid waste, and this project specifically targets the methane generated by the decomposing organic matter within the landfill cells.

Landfill gas projects under this methodology involve the installation of gas collection wells and piping systems to capture methane that would otherwise vent into the atmosphere. The captured gas is combusted, typically through flaring or electricity generation, converting the potent methane (CH4) into carbon dioxide (CO2), which has a significantly lower global warming potential. This specific project transitioned from an earlier "Legacy Waste" determination to the 2015 method, allowing it to credit abatement from both historical waste deposits (legacy) and more recent waste streams.

The Coffs Harbour region is characterized by a humid sub-tropical climate with high annual rainfall, averaging over 1,600mm per year. This high moisture content in the environment can accelerate waste decomposition rates compared to drier regions. The surrounding landscape features Red Ferrosols (krasnozems) and clay soils, typical of the Coffs Coast hinterland, which support local forestry and agriculture industries such as banana and blueberry cultivation; however, the project area itself is a highly engineered waste management environment.

The project has successfully completed a Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC102339) with the Australian Government, delivering over 21,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Notably, the importance of maintaining this gas extraction infrastructure was highlighted between 2020 and 2021, when the Council was fined by the NSW EPA after a blocked gas flow line caused significant odour issues in the surrounding residential areas. Remediation of the gas system was required to restore optimal function and compliance.