Projects to transform waste site

TRUCKS and machinery are on site at the Toowoomba Waste Management Centre, helping to transform and reshape the city’s northern boundary.

Toowoomba Regional Council’s Bedford St landfill site is being transformed thanks to two council projects.

The council’s water and waste committee chair Cr Nancy Sommerfield said the council was undertaking a number of projects at the site involving vertical expansion and a study into the quantity and quality of landfill gas.

The landfill gas project will guide the council’s decisions on future opportunities to use the gas from the landfill cells.

“Vertical expansion and completed landfill cell was identified as the most cost-effective and efficient method to meet our more immediate needs and comply with environmental requirements,” she said.

“Making the best use of space at landfills means the vertical expansion negates the need to enlarge the total footprint of the landfill area at the moment.”

In addition to extending the expected life of the Bedford St landfill, the council is proceeding with plans to collect and use landfill gas produced on the site.

Water and waste portfolio leader Cr Bill Cahill said trial wells had been installed to measure the quantity and quality of gas produced.

Gas produced during the trial is flared to reduce the environmental impact of gas.

Cr Sommerfield said the results of the three-month trial would inform potential future use options.

“In the second half of 2017 council will be seeking expressions of interest from prospective partners to develop the potential gas resource,” she said.

“Potential uses under consideration include using the gas to generate electricity to power council’s Wetalla Wastewater Treatment Plant next to the Bedford St site, generate electricity to sell into the grid or convert the gas into compressed natural gas to either run council’s plant fleet or to sell into the gas market.”