Grafton Regional Landfill landfill gas capture and combustion project

Grafton Regional Landfill landfill gas capture and combustion project is a landfill gas capture project located at the Grafton Regional Landfill in South Grafton, approximately 620km north of Sydney in the Clarence Valley region of New South Wales. It was registered in October 2014, and while the precise project area is not specified, it encompasses the active and legacy operational footprint of the landfill site.

Landfill gas methodologies involve capturing biogas, primarily methane, generated by the decomposition of organic waste within a landfill. Standard requirements for this project type dictate that the captured gas is then combusted, typically using a high-efficiency flaring unit or an electricity generator. This process converts the potent methane gas into carbon dioxide, safely and permanently reducing the greenhouse gas emissions footprint of the site.

South Grafton and the surrounding Northern Rivers area sit on low-lying alluvial plains along the Clarence River, with soils predominantly consisting of rich alluvial deposits near waterways that transition into clays and sandy loams further inland. The local environment experiences a subtropical climate classified by high annual rainfall. General land use in the broader Clarence Valley region is heavily weighted towards agriculture, featuring extensive sugarcane cropping, cattle grazing, and commercial forestry operations.

This transitioning project originated under a revoked Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) method, continuing to capture gas generated from both legacy and non-legacy waste streams. In January 2025, the participant name on the project was varied from Clarence Valley Council to LGI Limited, who manages the infrastructure. To boost abatement, LGI completed a major site upgrade in 2025, adding 12 vertical gas extraction wells, five collection lines, and over 800 metres of underground piping, effectively doubling the landfill's methane capture rate. The project also successfully completed a fixed delivery contract (CAC648508) with the Clean Energy Regulator in March 2022, fulfilling a commitment to sell 45,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to the Commonwealth. Over its lifetime, the project has abated roughly 179,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.