We have a number of concerns about the proposal, outlined in our submission, but these can be distilled into a simple position: we believe Victoria needs to take every opportunity to urgently shift to zero emissions and a circular economy. The proposed waste-to-energy facility would do precisely the opposite to this: it would destroy physical resources and lock in 25 years of polluting electricity supply.
Our specific concerns include:
- The assumption that the waste stream will continue to have high amounts of organic content.
- The sheer scale of the facility creates its own demand and undermines efforts to achieve more sustainable resources outcomes.
- Assumptions about “avoided emissions” from other electricity generators are questionable.
- The assessment of total greenhouse gas emissions appears to not include the emissions associated with the transport of the 650,000 tonnes of waste from metropolitan Melbourne to the Latrobe Valley.
- The proposed facility lacks best-practice waste sorting.
- The toxicity of emissions to air, scrubber waste, fly ash and bottom ash remain problematic.