Hervey Range Landfill Gas Project

The Hervey Range Landfill Gas Project is a waste sector emissions avoidance project located at the Hervey Range Waste Management Facility in Alice River, approximately 20 to 25 kilometers southwest of Townsville, Queensland. Registered in May 2015, the project is operated by LMS Energy Pty Ltd, a leading Australian bioenergy company. The facility serves as the primary waste disposal site for the Townsville region, situated in an area where land use transitions from rural residential in Alice River to the grazing and military training grounds of the Hervey Range.

This project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015. The methodology involves the installation of a system to collect landfill gas, primarily methane generated by the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste. Once captured, the gas is combusted (flared or used for energy), converting the methane into carbon dioxide. Since methane has a global warming potential significantly higher than carbon dioxide (28 times greater), this conversion process generates Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by preventing the release of potent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The project is situated in Queensland's Dry Tropics region. The area is characterized by a distinct wet and dry season, with the majority of rainfall occurring during the summer monsoon months (December to March) and very dry conditions prevailing for the rest of the year. The local terrain around the landfill typically consists of sandy loams and clay soils, which are critical for landfill engineering to manage leachate and gas containment.

An interesting aspect of this project is the evolving nature of the site it occupies. The Townsville City Council has recently adjusted operations at the Hervey Range facility to focus more on resource recovery, diverting bulky items to other facilities to extend the landfill's lifespan. Additionally, the project proponent, LMS Energy, successfully completed a Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC668305) for this project in June 2022, indicating it met its contracted delivery of abatement to the Australian Government.