Planning for Council’s New Resource Recovery Facility Well Underway
Published on 10 September 2021
Image: Artist impression of the new Resource Recovery Facility at West Nowra.
Shoalhaven City Council has praised Bioelektra Australia for its progress on the development of a new Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) in the Shoalhaven following its recent development application to the Department of Planning, Industries and Environment in June 2021.
The state-of-the-art RRF will be Australia’s first Advanced Waste Treatment plant capable of diverting over 90% of Mixed Waste from landfill. Everything that can be reused or recycled is extracted in one process.
The RFF will be constructed on Council owned land adjacent to the current West Nowra Landfill site. The new facility will be funded, built and operated by Bioelektra.
Shoalhaven City Council Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Dunshea is pleased with how the project is progressing.
"Bioelektra Australia are currently reviewing submissions received by the Department of Planning, Industries and Environment to its development application. This is the next step in the planning process and we welcome the thorough review being undertaken by the NSW Environment Protection Agency to ensure the new facility meets environmental standards”, Mr Dunshea said.
“Council remains confident that Bioelektra Australia can address the concerns raised as part of the planning approval process and receive approval of the development application. Once this has been granted, we will be in position to formally launch the project and announced timelines for deliver,” Mr Dunshea said.
Bioelektra Managing Director, Fred Itaoui said “As soon as Bioelektra Australia was awarded the contract, we began working on the development application (DA) for the Resource Recovery Facility. So far, we are pleased to have made timely progress with the DA approval thanks to the support of Shoalhaven City Council and the guidance from the Department of Planning, Industries and Environment (DPIE).
“Bioelektra is currently compiling the Response To Submissions report together with our engineering partner GHD. We are confident that these responses will address the concerns of the DPIE and NSW Environment Protection Authority in a satisfactory manner, permitting us to continue the momentum towards DA approval.”
Considering the constraints posed by the pandemic and the state wide lockdown, I can only praise the efforts of my team, engineering partners and the valuable assistance received from DPIE which assisted us realise key project milestones in a short period of time”, Mr Itaoui said.
The development of the RRF was endorsed by Council in January 2019 to address concerns that the Shoalhaven is running out of landfilling space at its West Nowra within 10 years.
Council has undergone an extensive process of consulting with industry experts to find an economically and environmentally sound solution to a waste problem that faces local governments across Australia.
Council signed the formal agreement with Bioelektra Australia to build and operate the new facility in December 2020.
Works will commence in 2022 and the facility is expected to be fully operational by late 2023.