On Tuesday 25 February 2025, the NSW EPA announced a review of its Energy From Waste (EfW) Framework. An Options Paper has been released with comments being accepted up until 8 April.
EfW is a commonly used waste treatment technology around the world. There are some 500 operational plants in Europe alone. The NSW Government’s own waste plan (NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041, 2021) suggests that Sydney needs at least one large scale EfW plant by 2030, and an additional three by 2040. But the changes contemplated by the review do not go far enough to achieve these targets.
The current EfW framework
Over the last 10 years the NSW Government has built an EfW regulatory framework which includes:
- The EfW Policy Statement (published 2015, updated 2021), requiring all EfW proposals in NSW to meet a series of criteria including:
- Resource recovery criteria which set out acceptable wastes that can used as feedstock for an EfW project
- Technical criteria which a plant must achieve, including stringent air quality criteria
- A ‘good neighbour’ principle.
- The EfW Infrastructure Plan (2021), which limited the locations where EfW proposals are deemed acceptable to the sites of former power stations and four additional specific precincts (Goulburn Mulwaree, West Lithgow, Parkes and Richmond Valley). It prohibited EfW proposals in the Sydney metropolitan area, ending a number of pending EfW proposals.
What has the current framework achieved?
The key outcome of the framework is that there are currently no existing or approved EfW plants in NSW. Since 2013, seven proposed EfW projects have entered the NSW planning system by submitting Scoping Reports. One was eventually rejected, five have been withdrawn, and now only one remains in the system. Compare this to other Australian states – where two plants are nearing completion in WA and five projects are in development in Victoria.
In our view, the reasons why the EfW industry has been unable to establish itself in NSW can be attributed to the existing EfW framework and policy statement. They include the following:
- Very limited locations where EfW projects are permitted in NSW. Most are distant from Sydney, which is the source of the feedstock. This requires significant transport infrastructure to move the waste to the permitted EfW location.
- Signals to communities that EfW projects should not be located near residential areas. Banning EfW in Sydney inadvertently creates concerns among communities near the few permitted locations that these projects are dangerous – a message unsupported by the scientific evidence.
- The framework is not clear on what feedstock is acceptable for an EfW plant in NSW. Whilst Table 4 in the EfW Policy Statement allows “red bin” waste from source separated systems to be used as feedstock, accompanying footnotes state that waste streams should not contain “contaminants such as batteries, light bulbs or other electrical or hazardous wastes”. This could be interpreted as requiring extensive and expensive sorting and pretreatment, rendering EfW plants economically unviable and does not align with EU best practice. Further, the EfW technology is capable of and routinely processes small quantities of these wastes without any undue impacts.
- Unprecedented air quality criteria – the most recent update of the EfW Policy Statement in 2021 introduced a set of in-stack air emission limits which the NSW Government proclaimed to be “the strictest in the world”. These are inconsistent with international best practice, and counterproductive for emerging industries that the state needs to attract and develop. It’s not clear why standards proven in the EU and acceptable in Victoria and WA aren’t suitable for NSW. By setting different standards that are unrealistic and unattainable, NSW has essentially blocked EfW technology suppliers from bringing their technology to NSW.
What should change?
In EMM’s view the following should be changed in the EfW Framework to enable the development of a safe well regulated industry in NSW:
- Removal of precincts – while the options paper contemplates changing locations of precincts, EfW should be allowed anywhere in NSW where it complies with strict environmental and planning laws, including the EfW Policy Statement. This would help remove stigma around EfW and reinforce the message to the communities that well designed EfW plants can be safely developed in any location.
- Acceptable feedstock – the EfW Policy Statement needs to be clearer on what constitutes acceptable feedstock and recognise that it is impractical and unnecessary to exclude small quantities of items such as batteries, light globes and electronics.
- Emission standards – adopt the European emission standards, which are documented in the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and Best Available Technology (BAT) guidance. This would harmonise NSW standards with Europe - the major market for EfW plants - meaning that technology designed to comply with European standards could be brought to NSW.
- Good neighbour principle –this statement in the EfW Policy Statement should be balanced by a statement which takes account of the broader public interest, including the need for regional waste facilities. Impacts on local communities must, of course, be managed to acceptable standards, however there are already processes to ensure this occurs. Any application for an EfW plant will be determined under the Environment Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act), which provides for a rigorous assessment of major developments like an EfW plant and provides for public exhibition of the application. It would also be likely to be determined by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) which would run its own public assessment process.
In determining the application for an EfW plant at Eastern Creek in 2018 the IPC noted that the EfW Policy Statement cannot be determinative of an application and cannot be elevated to the status of legislation. Given this, the EP&A Act provides checks and balances which protect communities from unacceptable development.
EMM supports a rigorous approval process for proposed EfW plants in NSW, which balance the needs of local communities with those of the wider community. The EP&A Act already provides a set of checks and balances in this regard. But the current EfW framework has tilted the balance to the point where the process of getting an EfW plant approved in NSW is extremely onerous and uncommercial – out of seven attempts, no project has yet succeeded. Significant adjustment is needed if NSW is to achieve its own targets.
The EPA’s Options Paper can be found here https://yoursay.epa.nsw.gov.au/nsw-energy-waste-framework-review. Submissions close 8 April 2025.
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