Hawkesbury Landfill Gas Project

The Hawkesbury Landfill Gas Project is a waste sector project located at the Hawkesbury City Waste Management Facility on The Driftway in South Windsor, New South Wales. Situated approximately 55 kilometers northwest of the Sydney CBD, the facility sits within the Hawkesbury Valley, a region characterized by its peri-urban landscape, extensive floodplains, and agricultural activities such as turf farming and market gardening. The project was registered in August 2015 and is operated by LGI Limited, having been transferred from the Hawkesbury City Council shortly after registration.

Operating under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2015, the project involves the capture and combustion of methane generated from decomposing legacy and non-legacy waste. Landfill gas projects of this type function by installing a system of wells and pipes to vacuum biogas out of the landfill mound. This gas is then combusted, in this case, via an LGI 500 biogas flare, to convert methane into carbon dioxide, which has a significantly lower global warming potential.

The local environment of South Windsor experiences a temperate climate with moderate to high rainfall, typical of the Sydney Basin, and features alluvial soils derived from the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain. A key feature of this project is its additionality; LGI Limited notes that there was no regulatory requirement to capture biogas at this smaller regional site. The project creates carbon abatement above a set baseline (noted as 38.5%) and successfully completed its Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC102423) in 2021, though the operating contract with the Council was reportedly renewed in 2022 to continue managing emissions.