Page 1527 - Week 04 - Thursday, 26 March 2009
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Mr Stanhope: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
1. No. In early 2007 environment consultant Dr David Carpenter was commissioned to audit the effectiveness of the recycling facilities in Glebe Park in separating recyclables from non recyclable waste stream. The audit report was provided to Parks, Conservation & Lands in mid 2007. The results of the trial are positive enough to justify continued use of recycling bins in Glebe Park.
2. The existing signage and bin design has proven to be effective in separating recyclables from the non recyclable waste stream. However, there is always room for improvement. It is planned to replace the shrouds on the existing recycling bins with an improved design as the current shrouds deteriorate. The new design should improve the collection of waste paper and large recyclable containers.
Waste disposal—landfills
(Question No 89)
Ms Le Couteur asked the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, upon notice, on 26 February 2009:
(1) What is the estimated amount of greenhouse gas equivalent annually created by methane expelled from Canberra’s landfills.
(2) What is the approximate cost that the Government could recover from selling composted organic waste collected in an organic collection trial, or in a Canberra wide collection scheme.
(3) What is the price that business is currently charged for waste that they send to landfill and do the charges increase with the quantity of waste.
Mr Stanhope: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
1. Landfills emit methane as the landfilled waste breaks down. Landfills do not usually emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.
Canberra has one operational landfill at Mugga Lane. A company called Energy Developments extracts methane from the Mugga Lane landfill and then burns it in an internal combustion engine to produce electricity. Energy Developments estimates that the methane emitted from the Mugga Lane landfill in 2007-08 was approximately 167,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent (net).
Landfills may continue to emit greenhouse gases after they have been closed and are no longer operational. This may occur for more than 20 years from the time that waste is last deposited (see ‘Discussion Paper – Coverage of Landfill Emissions August 2008’ on the Department of Climate Change website at www.climatechange.gov.au). ACT Government does not monitor emissions from all non-operational landfills but has a contract with Energy Developments to extract methane from one of the non-operational landfills, West Belconnen. Energy Developments estimates that the methane emitted from the West Belconnen landfill in 2007-08 was approximately 38,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent (net). Figures cannot be given for other non-operational landfills at this stage.
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