Gympie Landfill Gas Project

The Gympie Landfill Gas Project is a waste sector project located at the Bonnick Road Waste Management Facility, approximately 5km south of the Gympie town centre in Queensland. Registered on November 20, 2017, the project is operated by LGI Limited in partnership with the Gympie Regional Council. The facility serves as the primary waste disposal site for the region, where the project has installed a bespoke biogas extraction system to manage landfill gas emissions.

Landfill gas projects involve the installation of wells and pipework to capture methane generated by decomposing organic waste. In this specific project, the captured gas is directed to a combustion device (flaring system). This process converts methane, a potent greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential, into carbon dioxide, which is significantly less harmful to the atmosphere. While some landfill gas projects generate electricity, the primary activity here is the destruction of methane to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).

The Gympie region is characterised by a subtropical climate with relatively high rainfall, averaging around 1,000mm to 1,200mm annually. The surrounding landscape supports diverse agricultural activities, including beef and dairy grazing, forestry, and horticulture (such as macadamia and ginger farming). The area's soils are varied, featuring fertile red volcanic krasnozems, alluvial clays along river flats, and podzolic soils derived from shales and metamorphic rocks.

A notable aspect of this project is the commercial model employed by the proponent, LGI Limited. They installed and manage the gas collection infrastructure at no capital cost to the Gympie Regional Council. In return, LGI retains the rights to the carbon credits generated. Since its inception, the project has abated over 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which LGI equates to removing approximately 5,000 cars from the road or planting 1.5 million seedlings.