Public submissions to Australian Paper’s proposed Energy from Waste project Environment Protection Authority application have closed following a six-month period of community consultation.
Australian Paper established an information centre in Morwell at the start of the year to inform the community about the project which would generate an alternative source of energy from municipal waste and to conduct the $7.5 million feasibility study.
Australian Paper general manager for corporate development David Jettner said feedback from the consultation process had been largely positive.
“This is really around social licence – will we gain support from the community to build our plant?” he said.
“Some people have come and asked us and challenged us and that has made us go away and prepare better.”
Mr Jettner said Australian Paper had travelled to real operating plants in Europe and Asia as part of the due diligence study.
“We know the emissions requirements in Europe are the toughest in the world, so we went to where they were the toughest to make sure that these technologies we are looking at actually did deliver what they said they were delivering.
“We are very comfortable with the technology. Mr Jettner said energy was the mill’s largest cost.
“So the whole point of the energy from waste project at Australian Paper is to secure its energy future. So that should help secure the jobs at the mill already, but also we’d like to imagine it will create new jobs.”
“We see a large reduction in green house gas emissions from the project. The estimate is around five hundred and fifty thousand tonnes per annum of CO2 equivalent, which is like taking 100,000 cars off the road. There is a good environmental story as well. It would also remove around 650,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste from Victoria’s landfills every year.”
For more information about the Energy from Waste project, visit australianpaper.com.au/about-us/creating-energy-from-waste.
