New Chum LFG Flaring Project

New Chum LFG Flaring Project is a landfill gas upgrade project located at the New Chum Solid Waste Landfill in Ipswich, approximately 35km southwest of Brisbane in Queensland. It was registered in November 2021 and covers the operational footprint of the landfill site. The surrounding region has a rich industrial history, having transitioned from 150 years of open-cut coal mining, which stretches along a 12km corridor from New Chum to Swanbank, into a major hub for waste management and industrial operations.

Landfill gas projects under the Carbon Farming Initiative methodology involve capturing and combusting methane generated from decomposing organic matter. Under standard requirements, projects like this must install or upgrade a landfill gas collection system to effectively extract methane emissions derived from both legacy and non-legacy waste. The captured gas is then combusted using industrial flares, converting highly potent methane gas into less harmful carbon dioxide, thereby mitigating the site's greenhouse gas impact.

The Ipswich area features a subtropical climate generally characterised by moderate to high summer rainfall. Soils in this historic mining corridor typically consist of heavy clays and shales, which frequently interact with local water catchments and nearby waterways such as Six Mile Creek and the Bremer River.

This project was established by Cleanaway Solid Waste Pty Ltd to manage the site's emissions. Interestingly, the New Chum landfill officially closed its doors to new waste in November 2025 after filling its final waste cell. Cleanaway is currently partnering with Griffith University on a multi-year "phytocapping" rehabilitation initiative, planting native grasses and vegetation to restore the ecosystem, attract wildlife like nesting birds and desert tree frogs, and improve local air quality. The project has overcome significant historical challenges; extreme rainfall and flooding in early 2022 caused contaminated water to pool in a waste cell and create severe community odour issues, prompting a $35 million investment in environmental controls and stormwater diversion. To date, the project's network of over 150 extraction wells continues to operate successfully, earning the facility over 90,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units.