Overview

The NSW Government has committed to achieving net zero emissions from organic waste under the Net Zero Plan Stage 1: 2020-2030. This plan mandates separate collection of food and garden organics by 2030.

Council currently undertakes source separation of Garden Organics (GO) and operates a modest Composting Facility at the Forest Road Landfill Site. In anticipation of this mandate coming in to effect Council has developed an Organics Recycling Strategy for the processing of organic waste in the region. This strategy included investigating the development of a regional scale Organics Recycling Facility compared with options to improve the processing capability of the existing Composting Facility. In July 2024 Council resolved to accept the organics recycling strategy and enter into a contract for Design and Construction of the facility at Gidley Appleby Road.

This Project is for the delivery of a fit for purpose Organics Recycling Facility to service the future needs of the Tamworth Region and satisfy the NSW Governments mandated requirements

The Facility is proposed to have capacity to process up to 35,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of a range of organic materials, including:

• Garden Organic (GO) waste,
• municipal Food Organic and Garden Organic (FOGO) waste, and
• Category 3 organics. Category 3 organics incorporate meat, fish and fatty foods, fatty and oily sludges and organics of animal and vegetable origin.

There will be consideration for expansion of the Facility’s processing capacity to 50,000tpa in the future as the growth of Tamworth region and associated industry expands.

Tamworth Regional Council has undertaken extensive research and design development with their industry partners to determine the best technology mix to process these waste streams using a combination of anaerobic digestion and tunnel composting. The advantages of this technology mix include:

• Significantly reduced project footprint.
• Fully enclosed facility for improved odour management.
• Covered compost storage areas for improved leachate management.
• Closed loop leachate system to reduce water demands.
• Solar and onsite gas generated power to reduce energy costs.
• Advanced contaminant removal processes to maximise compost quality.
• Automated materials handling and double hygienisation for category 3 organics.

Currently, Tamworth Regional Council’s processing and composting of organic material is restricted to green waste only at the Forest Road Waste Management Facility. The Composting Facility is licensed with the Environment Protection Authority and processes approximately 15,000 tpa of green waste to produce a high-grade mulch product. The current operational footprint of the Composting Facility has reached maximum processing and storage capacity and additional organic waste stream materials, such as food organics and commercial products are currently being landfilled. It is estimated that these additional organic waste streams could be in the order of up to 10,000tpa.

This Project aims to divert organic materials from being landfilled, process these products at a new purpose-built facility, utilising Tunnel Composting System to produce an end product, which may include a range of high-grade mulch, compost and soil conditioners for use by local residents, businesses and for commercial and industrial uses.

This facility, once commissioned will provide the Tamworth region with the first Organic Recycling Facility, suitable to process up to 35,000tpa of a range of organic materials, including: Food and Garden organics and Category 3 organics. Category 3 organics incorporate meat, fish and fatty foods, fatty and oily sludge’s and organics of animal and vegetable origin. There is consideration for expansion of the facility’s processing capacity to 50,000tpa in the future as the growth of Tamworth region and associated industry expands.

The proposed hours for construction are from 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays if required.

Following construction, it is proposed that the Organic Recycling Facility would be operated on behalf of Tamworth Regional Council by a specialist Operator with approximately 6 on-site staff and the operational hours are expected to be 8am to 4:45pm Monday to Sunday.

This Project is considered to be a Designated Development and as such, will be subject to a Development Application to be determined by the Joint Regional Planning Panel. As part of the Development Application process, an Environmental Impact Statement has been prepared for public exhibition 30 September through to 28 October 2019.