Cairns Regional Council - Portsmith Landfill Gas Project

Cairns Regional Council - Portsmith Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas capture project located at the decommissioned Portsmith Landfill, approximately 3km south of the Cairns central business district in Far North Queensland. It was registered in February 2014 and operates over the closed landfill site.

Landfill gas projects involve installing gas collection infrastructure to capture methane gas emitted by decomposing organic waste. Under standard operations for this methodology, the captured methane must be combusted, usually via a flare or an electricity generator, to convert the highly potent methane into less harmful carbon dioxide. This specific project uses a flaring system to capture and combust methane generated from "legacy waste", meaning waste that was accepted at the facility before July 1, 2012.

The Cairns region features a tropical monsoonal climate characterized by extremely high rainfall and distinct wet and dry seasons. Surrounding land uses in the Portsmith area consist primarily of heavy industry, commercial shipping, coastal mangroves, and urban development. The soils in this coastal estuarine environment generally include alluvial clays, coastal sands, and mangrove muds.

This project was a transitioning project, shifting from earlier Carbon Farming Initiative methodologies to the updated 2015 Landfill Gas methodology in July 2022. Since 2012, operations at the closed landfill site have captured and destroyed an average of 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. In April 2016, the project successfully fulfilled a Commonwealth carbon abatement contract (CAC102466), delivering 5,383 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Cairns Regional Council continues to utilize the Portsmith flaring operations as a key component of its wider Climate Change Strategy 2030 to mitigate local greenhouse gas emissions.