Hepburn Organic Waste Treatment Facility

Hepburn Organic Waste Treatment Facility is a source separated organic waste project located at the Creswick Transfer Station in the Shire of Hepburn, Victoria. Situated approximately 18km north of the major regional city of Ballarat, the facility serves the local community within the Central Highlands region. Registered in March 2024, the project operates under a partnership between the proponent, Gaia Envirotech, and the Hepburn Shire Council to manage local waste streams more sustainably.

The project utilizes the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Source Separated Organic Waste) Methodology Determination 2016. This methodology credits emissions reductions achieved by separating eligible organic material, such as food organics and garden organics (FOGO), at the point of generation and diverting it from landfill. Instead of decomposing anaerobically in a landfill and releasing methane, the waste is treated using eligible technologies. In this case, the facility employs Gaia Envirotech’s modular "In-Vessel Rapid Composter" (IVRC) units, which process the waste in an enclosed, aerobic environment to produce nutrient-rich compost.

The Creswick region is characterized by a cool temperate climate with a moderate annual rainfall of approximately 640mm to 740mm. The surrounding landscape supports a mix of land uses including forestry, grazing, and agriculture, with soils typically described as silty loams to clay loams derived from sedimentary bedrock and historical gold mining activities. The project is notable for its "circular economy" approach, processing waste locally to reduce transport emissions and returning the resulting compost to local parks and gardens, rather than hauling waste hundreds of kilometers to distant processing centers.