Waste-to-energy plants are being proposed in regional areas away from big city populations.Australia's first energy-from-waste plant, in WA, is near completion, but other countries are warning of the health risks from incinerators using old technology.
In New South Wales the state government wants to build four facilities, with most of them outside metro areas, but there is only one currently progressing through the planning system.near Goulburn, which would use "moving grate technology" to burn rubbish at high temperatures to create steam, which could be used to power turbines and produce enough energy for 40,000 homes.
The company behind the proposal, Asia Pacific Waste Solutions, said the facility would use an anaerobic digester to process the waste, without the need for incineration.Spokesperson Bruce Maynard said the process being proposed was defined as an incinerator by both European Union and United States Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
"If you start putting things like tanks that are containing waste material on top of ground that cracks you don't need to be that smart before you realise that you are sitting on a time bomb." She said new plants no longer burn waste but use closed boiler systems to generate heat and electricity. "Any off gases that come out go through an extensive scrubbing system, similar to the tunnels that have been built all over Sydney and Melbourne," he said.
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