Barwon Water - Golden Plains Shire SSOW

Barwon Water - Golden Plains Shire SSOW is a source-separated organic waste project involving waste collection across the Golden Plains Shire and processing at a facility in Connewarre, 15km south-east of Geelong in Victoria. It was registered in April 2025 and operates across an unspecified area size, as it relies on municipal waste collection networks rather than a single plot of land.

Source-separated organic waste projects involve separating eligible organic waste from a single waste stream at the point of generation to divert it from landfill, thereby avoiding harmful methane emissions. The methodology requires the diverted waste to be transferred to a facility for treatment using enclosed composting or anaerobic digestion, where the resulting biogas is captured and sent to a combustion device for destruction or process engineered fuel manufacture.

The Golden Plains Shire area is a predominantly rural region known for sheep and cattle grazing, as well as broadacre cropping like barley, wheat, and canola. The region generally experiences moderate but reliable rainfall, and the soils are largely duplex, featuring lighter sandy clay loams over heavy clay subsoils.

This project was set up by Barwon Region Water Corporation in partnership with local councils to transition the region to a circular economy. It transforms household kerbside Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) into renewable energy, biochar, and agricultural digestate. Uniquely, the project also includes a charity waste diversion activity where eligible items are separated at the point of generation and diverted from landfill to registered charities for charitable purposes.