Eastern Creek: Landfill Centre to use new technology to turn methane gas into electricity

A landfill site in Sydney’s west will tackle an “egg fart” odour issue, which caused residents in surrounding suburbs physical and mental distress, with cutting-edge technology turning gas into electricity.

The Eastern Creek Landfill Centre now has a new flare, 17 gas wells and critical gas infrastructure as part of an $18.5m deal between energy provider LGI and Bingo Industries – who run the landfill centre. Picture: Supplied

A landfill site in Sydney’s west has started tacking a foul odour issue, which caused residents in surrounding suburbs physical and mental distress, with cutting-edge technology.

The Eastern Creek Landfill Centre has installed a new flare, 17 gas wells and critical gas extraction infrastructure to date, with the aim of converting methane gas from the site into electricity.

The new tech is part of an $18.5m deal between energy provider LGI and Bingo Industries – which owns the landfill centre.

The gas will be converted through a four-megawatt renewable power station, which will then power the Eastern Creek Recycling Ecology Centre and other sites owned by the company across the state.

The power station is on track to be commissioned by mid-2025.

It comes after waste disposal company Dial-A-Dump, which was acquired as a subsidiary of Bingo Industries in 2019, was court-ordered in March to pay a $280,000 fine over “offensive rotten egg gas odours” coming from the landfill in 2021.

The Eastern Creek Landfill Centre now has a new flare, 17 gas wells and critical gas infrastructure as part of an $18.5m deal between energy provider LGI and Bingo Industries – who run the landfill centre. Picture: Contributed

A publicly available written Judgement stated residents suffered “throat and eye irritation, coughing, breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, insomnia, stress and anxiety” as a result of the odour.

Specific examples were submitted to the court, including a woman who claimed on one occasion she “was forced to stay indoors, could not hang out her laundry, or have friends and family visit”.

In other examples tendered to the court, at least four people claimed they were “unable to sleep” due to the stench, which on one occasion was described as “faecal” and like “an egg fart”.

The upgrades at the landfill site mean more gas can be captured.

LGI CEO Jarryd Doran. Picture: Contributed

LGI CEO Jarryd Doran said the multimillion dollar upgrades would benefit the environment, the community and the broader Blacktown local government area.

He said 60 new gas wells were expected to be completed by the end of January 2025, and that LGA had been working extensively with other councils and private waste operators for more than a decade to reduce the state’s carbon footprint.

“Our partnerships with multiple NSW councils have allowed us to reduce (CO2e) emissions by more than 1.13 million tonnes, which is the equivalent of planting 18.8 million seedlings for the next decade,” he said.

Bingo Industries CEO Chris Jeffrey said the “state of the art” gas extraction infrastructure installed on site was an important step towards further reducing emissions and continuing to improve environmental outcomes for the community.