New landfill gas generators that opened this week at Mugga Lane Tip will provide over 5,000 ACT homes with electricity, capturing emissions from organic material in landfill.
Around 5,700 homes will be supplied with electricity from the generators, delivered through a contract with LGI Limited.
ACT Recycling and Waste Reduction Minister Chris Steel said while the ACT Government is looking to reduce and recycle organic food waste to divert it from landfill, it is still important to capture as much of the emissions created by organic waste that ends up in landfill as possible.
“Each year, 140,000 tonnes of organic waste goes to landfill in the ACT, which in the anaerobic environment, turns into methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide,” Mr Steel said.
He said last year the ACT Government has been capturing methane emissions from landfill since 1997. He said yesterday (25 August) the project would increase the efficiency of capturing the emissions, and the estimated energy supplied by the landfill would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 120,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to removing 30 cars from the road.
“The benefits of these upgrades to the community are twofold,” Mr Steel said.
“These generators allow the gas to be captured and used to create electricity to power homes and businesses, reducing emissions.”
The announcement comes after the Government announced the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which aims to reduce the amount of groceries being thrown out in Canberra each week, and an election promise to roll out a food waste collection scheme.
“Education is a critical component to the successful roll out of a future food waste collection scheme. Before we recycle food, we need to work to reduce the amount of food waste we are producing in the first place,” Mr Steel said.
Around 26,000 tonnes of household food waste goes to ACT landfill each year.
