Gold Coast considers burning rubbish to generate electricity as waste bills skyrocket

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There are more than 2,000 waste-to-energy facilities across the world, burning rubbish to generate electricity. But in Australia, the industry is in its infancy, with fewer than a dozen projects underway or proposed. The Gold Coast council is considering the option, with residents facing skyrocketing waste bills. But the proposed fix is not without its critics.

Transcript

00:00Far from the Glitter Strip is a side of the Gold Coast the tourists don't see.

00:12But here it's evident the city has a rubbish problem.

00:18It's just one of many Australian communities grappling with what to do with its waste.

00:24We are, when you start looking at our recovery rates here in Australia,

00:2820 to 30 years behind other parts of the world.

00:31The Gold Coast Council predicts its rubbish tips will be exhausted within a decade.

00:37I can see the waste levy going up three times, 300%.

00:42Tom Tate is proposing building a waste-to-energy facility by 2032,

00:47using non-recycled rubbish as fuel, burning it to drive turbines which generate electricity.

00:53To make sure that future waste levy on the Gold Coast is kept as low as what it is today.

01:02Grant Gabriel is the project's director.

01:07It will notionally run for somewhere between 35 and 50 years, with large maintenance upgrades as we go through.

01:15660,000 tonnes of waste would be incinerated a year, powering 85,000 homes.

01:22So we could pull in waste from Coffs Harbour.

01:24We could pull in waste from Grafton.

01:25We could go all the way to the Sunshine Coast.

01:27A similar waste-to-energy facility went online in Perth last year.

01:34In Europe, the technology has been used for decades.

01:38You've just done that journey away from landfill. You recognise the need.

01:43The UK's seen landfill rates plunge from 80 to under 10% since the late 90s.

01:50The UK government has placed stricter approvals on new builds to boost recycling and reduce emissions.

01:57Landfill is a very easy solution, but it has a long-term legacy cost.

02:01Landfill generates methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than CO2.

02:08Grant Gabriel says waste-to-energy would halve those emissions.

02:12What would happen if that waste didn't go into that facility and went instead into a landfill?

02:17But many warn waste-to-energy is not a silver bullet, with older facilities emitting high levels of carbon dioxide.

02:25If we burn plastic, we might not only create the CO2, but also if we don't burn it completely,

02:32it might create certain very harmful chemicals like dioxins.

02:36But as the Gold Coast rubbish dumps rapidly reach their fill,

02:40the city knows it has to do something before time runs out.

02:45When you're frozen.

02:47Right, everyone has to do something before time,

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03:06You know what often happens when you're starting out here,

03:07withART hand is very busy that you will be starting your hobby.

03:09For more than Danielkle creeps in,

03:10with home is this year,

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