Wood Mulching Industries waiting for approval for biogas facility at Swanbank as part of industrial, business park with concrete plant, garden centre and landscape supply

The biogas facility is planned to form part of an industrial and business precinct, with approval already granted for a garden centre, landscape supply depot and concrete plant to support Ipswich’s high growth suburbs.

A biogas facility has been proposed for an industrial site in Swanbank.

An Ipswich waste company is waiting on approvals to proceed with plans for a biogas facility capable of processing up to 100,000 tonnes of material, which would form part of a wider business and industrial precinct in the city’s south east.

Wood Mulching Industries, which has been operating for 28 years, submitted a development application to Ipswich City Council at the end of 2019 to set up the facility near its existing operations at Swanbank.

The state government has raised concerns about how PFAS chemicals already on the site will be managed.

A biogas facility has been proposed for wide industrial and business development over 75 hectares in Swanbank.

It is part of a masterplan for 70 hectares of land which is planned to become a ‘renewable energies bio-precinct’ with a range of services and businesses to support the growing Springfield and Ripley residential developments.

Several applications have been submitted by WMI and Swanbank Industrial Park Pty Ltd for the site.

A concrete plant was approved in June and a decision has yet to be made about a service station complex after plans were lodged last year.

An application to set up a garden centre and landscape supply depot at the end of 2015 has now been given the tick of approval by the council.

The facilities will be built over two lots totalling 49 hectares on an unnamed road.

WMI runs a wood mulching and composting facility on the north eastern boundary.

“Whilst there are some existing industrial uses (landfill and waste recycling facilities) along the north-western side of the site, the site is predominantly surrounded by vacant industrial land,” a council memorandum noted.

“The facility shall have a garden display area of 600 m2, an office/showroom building with an area of 200 m2 and approximately 3,200 m2 of landscape supplies storage/display area.

A garden centre and landscape supply depot facility has been approved.

“Approximately 4,000 m2 of land around the use area is reserved for stormwater management, treated wastewater effluent disposal and landscaped buffer purposes.”

The facility is set to open 6.30am-6.30pm seven days a week and employ eight full-time staff.

The applicant has been ordered by the council to extend Mount Juillerat Drive from the existing intersection with Wesley Way to provide access, unless it is designed and constructed by someone else.

A decision has yet to be made on the plans for the biogas facility, which were submitted in 2019.

The owner of the land, Swanbank Industrial Park, currently operates a sand extraction business to the north east.

“The subject site is proximate to the Centenary Highway extension at the Swanbank roundabout and Swanbank Enterprise Park which is identified as a regionally significant employment generator,” the original application noted.

“Approval is also sought to relocate and condense the current special industry (wood mulching/composting) footprint on the site.

“Through redevelopment of the subject site, WMI will help to implement the transition of their 70 hectare land to a renewable energies (bio hub) and transport and logistics orientated industrial precinct.

A concrete plant has been approved by Ipswich City Council.

“It is WMI’s vision to develop a complete solution to organic waste management by redeveloping its site at Swanbank to establish a renewable energies precinct.

“In conjunction with WMI’s mulching and composting operation, organic material, waste or substrate is proposed to be used as a feed in the anaerobic digestion facility with the end product of the anaerobic digestion being biogas and digestate (left over of the feed after the anaerobic fermentation and degradation).”

The biogas generated through this process is proposed to be converted to electricity through a combined heat and power generation unit.

“It is also proposed to be further refined to pipeline-quality natural gas, and connected to the grid, and for fuel to run earthmoving equipment, public transportation, waste collection vehicles, and more,” the application noted.

“The nutrients and solid materials from the digestate can also be concentrated and used in relation to the composting facility component for the creation of high quality landscaping, horticultural and civil works products including composts, soil conditioners, mulches, garden and lawn blends, and erosion control products.

Plans for a service station complex for the development has yet to be ticked off by the council.

The facility is proposed to be designed and operated by Biogass Renewables, which runs a bioenergy plant near Perth in Western Australia.

“The financial risk is shared with $15 (million) financial investment to build and maintain the site,” the application stated.

“$4 (million) in federal funding via (the Australian Renewable Energy Agency) and the balance being private investment.”

The plant is designed to handle between 50,000-100,000 tonnes a year of green waste and process about 150 m3 of trucked organic waste.

The combined heat and power unit is planned to combust 225 m3 of biogas.

One third of what is produced will go to powering the site, another third will be tanked or piped and the last third will go off site through a pipeline.

Public notification was completed on June 24.

The State Assessment and Referral Agency advised WMI this month that it has concerns about its PFAS (man made chemicals widely used since the 1950s in household and industrial products and in firefighting foams since 1970) contamination management plan.

“SARA advises that your development application has not adequately demonstrated compliance with State Code 22: Environmentally Relevant Activities of the State Development Assessment Provisions and the environmental objectives prescribed in Schedule 8 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2019,” it wrote.

“The (Receiving Environment Management Plan) has not taken into account the existing contamination of the soils and surface waters throughout the site with PFAS chemicals, as well its potential to contaminate stormwater and groundwater.”

It asked WMI to provide more details about its plan before it could proceed.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Wood Mulching Industries waiting for approval for biogas facility at Swanbank as part of industrial, business park with concrete plant, garden centre and landscape supply