Rubbish on Worsley power agenda

Bunbury household waste could be used to fuel Worsley Alumina’s refinery if a radical proposal between the mining company and Bunbury City Council can be sealed.

The South Western Times can reveal the council could provide its waste to fuel Worsley’s new multi-fuel cogeneration plant.

The plant, which has been built as part of Worsley’s expansion, can be fuelled by coal and biomass and is owned by multi-national giant General Electric which leases it to Worsley.

Council waste operations manager Tony Battersby stressed the discussions were in their “early days”.

The plant was still being commissioned and could take only limited types of waste.

But he said the proposal would reduce the amount of Bunbury’s household waste going into landfill.

“If we can supply them some alternative fuels to coal, diesel and LPG, it would certainly be a benefit and a very good alternative, ” he said.

“At this stage I don’t think their facility would be capable of taking everything.”

The proposal has already raised the concerns of the Greens, which is opposed to using waste to fuel power stations.

Greens MLC Lyn MacLaren has warned the council should reconsider the proposal.

“We would be opposed to any proposal for incinerators of household waste because of the impact on the environment and because it is a poor choice to manage waste, ” she said.

BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina head of port and energy Dino Otranto said the company “operates with a diverse range of fuel sources and as such is continually looking at alternative sustainable fuel options”.

The Worsley plan is a more attractive option for the council than building its own a waste-to-energy plant.

There are three waste-to-energy plants proposed for Western Australia, each worth more than $100 million.

However, Mr Battersby said this was not viable for the council because of the relatively small amount of waste it produced.

“It is something we should be keeping on our radar but waste-to-landfill is still fairly cheap in our region compared to waste-to-energy costs.

“We certainly don’t want to put any extra costs on our ratepayers unnecessarily just to say we are recycling everything.”

Mr Battersby said the council’s priority was to focus on recycling well before waste to energy operations.

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