Nambour Landfill Gas Project

The Nambour Landfill Gas Project is a waste management and emissions reduction project located at the Nambour Waste Management Facility on Cooney Road, roughly 5km east of Nambour on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Registered in December 2013, the project is operated by LMS Energy Pty Ltd, a prominent Australian bioenergy company. The site sits within a region characterized by a sub-tropical climate with high rainfall, averaging over 1,600mm annually, and fertile soils, typically red ferrosols (clays) in the hills and alluvial types in the valleys, which historically supported the area's sugar cane industry.

This project operates under the Landfill Gas methodology, which involves the installation of a network of wells and pipes into the landfill mass to capture methane generated by decomposing organic waste. Instead of allowing this potent greenhouse gas to vent into the atmosphere, the system collects it for combustion. This process converts the methane into carbon dioxide, which has a significantly lower global warming potential. While the project initially focused on flaring the captured gas to generate carbon credits (ACCUs), recent developments in 2024 indicate an upgrade to include a 1MW renewable energy facility designed to feed electricity into the local grid, capable of powering approximately 1,600 homes.

The project has a long operational history, having transitioned from the earlier Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) to the current Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) framework. It successfully completed a carbon abatement contract with the Australian Government in June 2022. The facility at Nambour is part of a broader circular economy strategy by the Sunshine Coast Council, which aims to utilize waste streams for energy generation while minimizing environmental impact.