Video explainer: creating energy from waste

Here's a transcript of the video:

At present, up to 500,000 tonnes of waste arrives at Swanbank each year – commercial waste and general household waste from Ipswich and Brisbane.

The Swanbank Energy from Waste facility will take waste that is not recyclable.

But instead of buying it, what would end up as landfill will be used to generate electricity to power as many as 50,000 homes.

Yes, better recycling and waste recovery will also reduce the amount of waste we all produce. But that will be offset by increases in population, particularly in the growing Ipswich area.

It works like this.

The waste is dropped inside the facility in a waste bunker, where odour can be contained. From there, the waste is fed into a combustion chamber where it is burned at high temperature, more than 850 degrees Celsius.

The heat from the combustion boils waste to create steam, and the steam is used to drive a large turbine and generate electricity.

So what about emissions?

All gasses are sent to a treatment system to take out particles and any potential pollutants. The fine particles, called fly ash, will be treated and kept on site in the existing REMONDIS landfill, thus reducing the amount going to landfill to less than 5%

Bottom ask is also produced. This is extracted and processed to remove and recycle any metals. The ash can also be recycled, used for building roads and making concrete.

Emissions, including trace elements, are continuously monitored to ensure they are safe and complying with both national and Queensland regulations.

Out of the stack comes cleaned flue gas, consisting of oxygen, carbon dioxide, steam and nitrogen, which is common in the air we breathe.

Energy from Waste is a $400 million commitment from REMONDIS, working for better waste management for the future.

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UPDATE FEBRUARY 2022: REMONDIS subsequently withdrew its application to develop an Energy from Waste facility at Swanbank (details here), on request from the Queensland State Government. We remain committed to enabling energy recovery from waste as a core component of Australia's waste management strategy.