WBE Biogas Project

WBE Biogas Project is an industrial wastewater treatment project located at the Wingham Beef Exports abattoir, approximately 12km northwest of Taree in the Manning Valley region of New South Wales. Registered in March 2025, the project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Domestic, Commercial and Industrial Wastewater) Methodology Determination 2015. The facility is a major meat processing plant owned by NH Foods Australia, capable of processing approximately 700 cattle per day.

The project involves the installation of anaerobic digesters to replace deep open anaerobic lagoons that were previously used to treat the facility's industrial wastewater. By covering these lagoons or using engineered tanks, the project captures methane, a potent greenhouse gas generated during the decomposition of organic matter, that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The captured biogas is then combusted using a flaring device or utilized as a renewable energy source for the plant's boilers, converting the methane into carbon dioxide, which has a significantly lower global warming potential.

The Wingham region is characterized by a warm subtropical climate with high rainfall, which supports the "lush pastures" and "deep fertile soils" the Manning Valley is known for. The local landscape features alluvial soils on the floodplains of the Manning River and clay loams in the surrounding rolling hills. Land use in the immediate vicinity is dominated by beef and dairy cattle grazing, consistent with the abattoir's supply chain, as well as forestry operations in the hinterland.

An interesting aspect of this project is its connection to NH Foods' broader sustainability strategy. The company successfully implemented similar "COHRAL" (Covered High-Rate Anaerobic Lagoon) technology at their Oakey Beef Exports facility in Queensland in 2015, which reduced that plant's natural gas reliance by over 40%. The WBE Biogas Project represents the expansion of this proven waste-to-energy technology to their New South Wales operations, aiming to improve water quality and reduce odors in addition to generating carbon credits.