University Drive Landfill Gas Project

University Drive Landfill Gas Project is a landfill gas project located at University Drive, just southwest of the Bundaberg CBD in Queensland. Registered in March 2015, the project covers the footprint of the local municipal landfill. The surrounding Bundaberg region is widely known for intensive agricultural land use, specifically sugarcane cropping and horticulture, alongside expanding urban development. The local environment features a subtropical climate with moderate to high rainfall, which, combined with the region's rich red volcanic (basalt) and alluvial clay soils, heavily supports its agricultural productivity.

Landfill gas projects involve installing a new gas collection system or upgrading an existing one to capture and combust methane emissions from decomposing organic waste. Under the methodology's standard requirements, the methane gas generated from both legacy and non-legacy waste must be destroyed, typically through flaring or power generation. Projects generate carbon credits based on the volume of methane combusted above a regulatory or historical baseline proportion, effectively converting a highly potent greenhouse gas into less harmful carbon dioxide.

The University Drive project was developed as a long-term partnership between the project proponent, LGI Limited, and the Bundaberg Regional Council. Operating as a flare-only site, this project relies on Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) as its primary revenue source. Over the past decade, this initiative, alongside a sister biogas project at the nearby Cedars Road landfill, has successfully captured over 65.8 million cubic metres of biogas and generated more than 249,000 ACCUs combined. The project was notably established at no cost to local ratepayers, and the council receives a percentage of the carbon credits created. Thanks to this technology, the council has reduced its carbon equivalent emissions by an estimated 625,000 tonnes, an environmental benefit equivalent to planting over 10 million seedlings.