As a major national waste to energy conference comes to a close in Ballarat, council is still waiting for a state government policy before announcing its own plans.
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The City of Ballarat has pushed for a waste to energy plant for at least five years, but after a proposed deal with a Malaysian firm fell apart in 2019, council put its plans on hiatus.
The plant, which would be constructed at land set aside at the Ballarat West Employment Zone, would be part of a broader plan to receive and sort waste at the proposed All Waste Interchange, potentially shipped in via train from across western Victoria using the BWEZ's intermodal freight hub.
READ MORE: Hiatus for Ballarat's waste-to-energy plans
"The City of Ballarat has been researching, planning and preparing for opportunities in the circular economy including an energy recovery plant for over five years, which would divert 60 per cent of the city's waste into an affordable and secure energy source for industry, reduce carbon emissions and decrease the current regional landfill's environmental impacts," a council spokesperson said in a statement.
"The City of Ballarat is well-placed to move on the energy recovery concept once the Victorian Government releases the Circular Economy policy."
That policy was initially due for release at the end of 2019, though a council submission on municipal waste infrastructure notes it could be released "sometime in 2020".
In response, the state government said councils "can submit proposals for waste to energy facilities at any time".
"The Andrews Labor Government is developing a comprehensive circular economy policy that will deliver better environmental, social and economic results, as it will maximise the reuse of materials and reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill," a government spokesperson said in a statement.
"We have nothing to announce on this today."
Waste to energy plants generate electricity, or heat or steam, by processing municipal waste in a variety of ways, from simple incinerators to more expensive but cleaner plasma gasification.
Waste to energy expert Barry Sullivan points out the technology is well established overseas, particularly in Europe, and work has begun on waste to energy plants in Australia.
"This year, we have facilities being built - there's Quinana in Western Australia, East Rockingham WA, Australian Paper here in Maryvale, and Recovered Energy had approvals in Laverton North," he said - the Environment Protection Agency has granted works proposals for the two sites in Victoria and is currently considering other applications.
He organised this year's Australian Waste To Energy Forum at the Mercure, which had representatives from dozens of businesses, as well as the City of Ballarat.
"Things are finally happening, so with that in mind, this year, we had people speaking on ash and fly ash, the nasty stuff, and what to do with it," he said.
"We also had people from the UK, who have been placing people at waste to energy facilities for a number of years - they're moving a practice over here to look for the right people."
He said the state government's circular economy policy delay has put a number of projects on hold.
"City of Ballarat, like many, are waiting for that paper to be released, and until that paper is released, they're not going to move forward," he said.
"The policy important to the various councils because it could impact how they set-up their waste collection agreements."
Waste to energy would provide a way of gaining value from material that would otherwise go to landfill, if planned for appropriately and safely.
"If you consider that the waste to energy facility is a replacement for the tip, then you already know how it fits in a circular economy," he said.
"You've done all your recycling and everything else, and the waste to energy facility allows you to get more resources out of (rubbish) and divert it from landfill."
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