Inkerman Landfill Gas Abatement Project

Inkerman Landfill Gas Abatement Project is a landfill gas capture and combustion project located at Inkerman, approximately 85km northwest of Adelaide in South Australia. It was registered on 16 July 2015. While the specific project area size is undeclared, the region surrounding the facility is primarily agricultural, known for mixed dryland farming, grain crops, and livestock grazing. The local environment features a semi-arid Mediterranean climate with low to moderate rainfall, and the landscape is dominated by highly permeable sandy surface soils overlying calcrete and clay.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015. Landfill gas projects under this methodology involve the installation, upgrade, or continued operation of a gas collection system to capture methane-rich biogas generated by the decomposition of organic matter. The captured gas is then combusted, often via flaring or electricity generation, which destroys the methane and converts it into less potent carbon dioxide, significantly reducing the site's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Waste Management Pacific (S.A.) Pty Limited, a subsidiary of the national waste management group Cleanaway, is the sole proponent of this project. The project initially transitioned from a revoked 'CFI' legacy waste method and actively continues to capture and combust gas generated from both legacy and non-legacy waste cells. The project was successfully contracted by the government in April 2016, and the obligations under this specific contract (CAC107173) were fulfilled as of November 2020.

As an interesting note, the Inkerman Landfill is a critical piece of waste infrastructure for the greater Adelaide metropolitan area, processing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of municipal and commercial waste annually. The site is highly engineered and well-regarded for its containment systems; it was recently the subject of a rigorous South Australian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) process, becoming the state's pioneering facility approved to receive and safely encapsulate pre-treated PFAS-contaminated solid wastes under strict guidelines.