Bowral Waste Centre LFG Emission Avoidance Project

Bowral Waste Centre LFG Emission Avoidance Project is a Landfill Gas Emission Avoidance project located at the Bowral Waste Centre in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, approximately 115km southwest of Sydney. It was registered in May 2022. While the exact total project area size is not defined in the public register, the activities are contained within the operational footprint of the Bowral Waste Centre facility.

Landfill Gas Emission Avoidance projects involve the installation or upgrade of a landfill gas collection system to capture and combust gas generated by decomposing legacy and non-legacy waste. By passing the captured gas through a combustion device (such as a flare or generator), highly potent methane is converted into carbon dioxide, drastically reducing the overall global warming potential of the emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

The surrounding Southern Highlands region is well-known for mixed agricultural land uses, including grazing, dairy farming, and viticulture, alongside rural residential properties. The local environment features a cool, temperate, high-rainfall climate, receiving an average of roughly 900mm of rain annually. The soils in the Sydney Basin and broader Southern Highlands are diverse, primarily comprising Tenosols, Kurosols, Kandosols, and areas of rich, basalt-derived Dermosols.

An interesting administrative note regarding this transitioning project is that in November 2022, a variation of participant occurred on the project register, officially transferring the proponent status from Ewen McKenzie to Bowral Waste Centre Pty Ltd.