The new policy, released this week, only covers facilities that propose to recovery energy from waste, not those for the thermal treatment or destruction of wastes like contaminated soils, contaminated coal or halogenated hydrocarbons.
The new policy will replace the current NSW EPA's Guidance Note: Assessment of Non-Standard Fuels to bring NSW in line with current international practice for the recovery of energy from secondary materials.
Foregrounding the new policy, NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker said the draft energy from waste policy was a part of modern framework for waste management that is in line with international standards.
"The NSW Government recognises that a framework that facilitates a risk-based approach to the recovery of energy from waste will deliver certainty for industry and the community with the best environmental outcomes," she said.
Parker emphasised the policy was designed to allow waste to energy facilities to complement, not compete with, recycling operations. “This isn’t about finding an easy way out to deal with our waste issues, this is a legitimate waste management option that will maximise the recovery of energy and minimise harm to human health and the environment.”
Inside the policy
The policy document is short and concise, and looks to set a performance benchmark for facilities rather than dictate what fuels are acceptable, as with the previous policy.
The policy establishes a two-tiered framework separating the requirements for low-risk wastes proposed for energy recovery from all other wastes. Low risk fuels include biomass from agriculture, uncontaminated wood waste, recovered waste oil and tallow, waste from virgin paper pulp activities, landfill and biogas and coal washing rejects.
Other fuels will be required to meet a range of technical criteria. These include the EU Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC) and Group 6 air emission standards, a minimal thermal efficiency of 65% and most importantly, a maximum on the amount of recyclable content that can be sent to the facility.
Specifically, the policy says that under a three bins system, a maximum of 50% by weight of the ‘red bin’ waste received at a scheduled waste facility can be used for waste to energy. Further maximum weight percentages are set for other bin systems, C&I waste and C&D waste.
Most likely, the percentage of recyclable material will be the make-or-break criteria for industry looking to establish waste to energy facilities as landfill alternatives. However, the policy sets a level playing field for all industry looking to build such plants.
