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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02:51which does not still exist an extensive location,
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02:53For just a extra massive amount of direct loss,
02:54because you can see a 23 at least,
02:55when you want to lay the place and the marking에 itsdamn land.
03:01The local declineaces at the Canary report of C поехals are used to the are now making!
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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