Patons Lane Landfill Gas Abatement Project

Patons Lane Landfill Gas Abatement Project is a landfill gas project located at the Patons Lane Resource Recovery Centre in Orchard Hills, approximately 55km west of the Sydney CBD. Registered in July 2024, the project operates within a former clay and shale quarry (Erskine Park Quarry) that has been repurposed into a waste management facility. The site serves the Western Sydney region, an area characterized by a mix of peri-urban development, grazing land, and increasing industrial infrastructure associated with the Western Sydney Priority Growth Area.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2021. This methodology credits the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions achieved by capturing methane, a potent greenhouse gas generated by decomposing organic waste, and combusting it to generate electricity. While the facility primarily accepts non-putrescible commercial and construction waste, the project explicitly targets gas generated from both active non-legacy waste and historical legacy waste, the latter potentially stemming from periods of unregulated filling prior to the current owner's acquisition.

Environmentally, the Orchard Hills region experiences a temperate climate with moderate annual rainfall, typical of the Cumberland Plain. The local geology and soils are heavily influenced by the Wianamatta Shale formation, resulting in clay-rich soils that were historically the driver for the site's original quarrying operations. The proponent, SRC Operations Pty Limited, is a subsidiary of Bingo Industries, which acquired the site to develop it into an advanced recycling precinct, featuring a specialized wet recycling facility alongside the landfill operations.