Banksia Landfill Gas Abatement Project

The Banksia Landfill Gas Abatement Project is a landfill gas capture operation located at the Banksia Road Waste Management Facility in Crooked Brook, approximately 10km southeast of Bunbury in Western Australia. Registered in July 2015, this project operates on a large-scale waste site managed by Cleanaway Solid Waste Pty Ltd. The facility sits within the Shire of Dardanup, a region characterised by a mix of agricultural land use, primarily cattle grazing and dairy, and significant forestry operations, with the site itself adjacent to state forest areas.

Landfill gas projects operate by installing a network of wells and pipes into the waste mass to vacuum out methane generated by decomposing organic matter. This gas is then combusted, either through a flare or an internal combustion engine, to convert potent methane into less harmful carbon dioxide. The Banksia project specifically involves the capture and combustion of gas from both legacy and non-legacy waste, and it includes electricity generation components that utilise the captured gas to power site operations.

The Dardanup region experiences a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers, typically classified as a high rainfall zone during the winter months. The local terrain lies near the interface of the Swan Coastal Plain and the Darling Scarp, featuring soil profiles often dominated by ironstone gravels (lateritic soils) and sandy clays. The project is notable for being a "transitioning project," having originally operated under the earlier Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) before moving to the current Emissions Reduction Fund methodology. It successfully completed a carbon abatement contract (CAC163129) with the Australian Government in 2022.