Wagga Landfill Gas Abatement Facility

Wagga Landfill Gas Abatement Facility is a landfill gas abatement project located at the Gregadoo Waste Management Centre on the southern outskirts of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Registered in August 2013, the project operates over an undefined area that directly corresponds to the landfill's physical footprint. The surrounding Wagga Wagga region is a major agricultural hub, known primarily for wheat and cereal cropping, alongside extensive sheep and cattle grazing. The local environment features a temperate, semi-arid climate with hot, dry summers and a moderately even annual rainfall averaging around 570mm. The soils in this region are predominantly red-brown earths and granitic soils.

Landfill gas methodology projects involve the installation of infrastructure to capture and combust methane-rich gas generated by the decomposition of legacy and non-legacy organic waste within a landfill. By extracting this gas through a network of pipes and destroying it using a flare or power generator, the project significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions by converting highly potent methane into less harmful carbon dioxide and water.

The facility successfully transitioned from a revoked 2012 Carbon Farming Initiative method to the updated Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative - Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015. Originally established with AGL Energy Services Pty Limited as a participant, the Wagga Wagga City Council assumed full control as the sole proponent in July 2019. In early 2020, the Council further expanded the gas capture network into three additional waste cells and installed a combustion evaporator unit, which innovatively uses the extracted methane heat to safely evaporate stored landfill leachate liquid. Additionally, the project successfully fulfilled a Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC216640) with the Clean Energy Regulator, delivering a total of 23,500 tonnes of fixed emissions abatement to the Commonwealth by its completion in May 2022.