The Parkes Special Activation Precinct (SAP) has been identified as one of the priority locations to host a waste from energy facility in NSW.
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Along with the West Lithgow, Richmond-Valley Regional Jobs and Southern Goulburn Mulwaree precincts, the SAP's potential was highlighted in the NSW Government's Energy From Waste (EfW) Infrastructure Plan.
The Plan outlines how the government will support innovative ways of managing waste, drive investment into the bush and provide certainty for communities.
Energy from waste is a processing method that turns waste that would normally be designated to landfill into useable energy.
Typically, waste is moved by rail or road to these facilities.
Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM, congratulated the NSW Government for their EfW Infrastructure Plan, which will give certainty for communities and investors, by creating opportunities for NSW to lead the way in the delivery of world-class alternative energy products.
"To the NSW Government's great credit, the identification of sites has been done on merit, which took into consideration the proximity to residential areas, and to efficient transport links," said Cr Keith.
"These are state-of-the-art facilities with the world's best technology, which will drive waste from landfill into energy creation."
Cr Keith said EfW facilities are proven to be shrewd investments that create a substantial number of jobs.
"Examples of EfW facilities can be found all over the world from Europe to Asia.
"This is proven technology and plays a role along-side other recycling technologies, in providing an end-of life waste alternative to landfilling in keeping with circular economy principles.
"It's about changing our thinking on waste from it being a problem that we bury, to an asset that helps us attract and build industry and jobs in a sustainable way.
"These facilities are multimillion dollar investments and create substantial jobs," said Cr Keith.
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As part of the Parkes SAP, an area for resource recovery and recycling was already set aside.
Under the plan, operators of energy from waste projects will be required to make emissions data available to the community in real-time online, to boost community confidence and transparency.
These facilities provide a dedicated area for essential waste and resource recovery that allows for a variety of new recycling and reprocessing industries.
There is also a great opportunity for resource recovery research.
The location within the Parkes SAP is also perfect from a logistics perspective, given it is at the intersection of national rail networks.
Even though the latest filtration technology makes energy from waste virtually pollution-free, wide buffer zones are built into the 4800ha precinct design, which makes the activation precinct the perfect location.
Air quality and odour will be monitored across the precinct.
Water used during the process is captured and recycled at a precinct level and on-site.
Any heat and steam generated as part of the process could be used in the SAP for processing and manufacturing of agricultural value-adding industries, while electricity can be fed into the national grid or used within the precincts to power collocated industry.
In Australia, we generate about 3.4 million tonnes of plastics waste each year yet only 14 per cent of it is recycled - so these facilities are crucial. For more information visit: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/yourenvironment/waste/waste facilities/energy-recovery.
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