Eastern Creek UR-3R Facility
The
Eastern Creek UR-3R Facility is the largest alternative waste treatment facility in the Southern Hemisphere, diverting household waste away from disposal at landfill. To do this, process engineering expertise is applied to recover resources from traditional household waste to develop soil conditioner and recyclable products.
The operation of the project avoids the emission of methane gas in landfill. The Eastern Creek UR-3R Facility receives municipal solid waste collected by or on behalf of councils in the Greater Sydney area, either delivered directly or via transfer stations located in Artarmon and Rockdale. Received waste is pre-screened for inappropriate and hazardous materials (which are removed) and then the remaining waste is processed. The Facility is licenced to process up to 220 000 tonnes of waste per annum and has operated at this capacity since July 2011.
Processed waste is sorted by hand and mechanical sorting into hard recyclables, organic-rich waste and residual waste streams. The organic material is composted in an automated composting system, before passing into a refining circuit which separates the composted material into a soil conditioner and a daily cover product for use on the Eastern Creek landfill.