Yarra Valley Water is tackling the growing problem of food waste head-on with the construction of a second large-scale food waste to energy facility in Lilydale.
The new $48 million facility will divert about 55,000 tonnes of commercial food waste from landfills every year while generating renewable electricity.
“We’ve come a long way since we built Victoria’s first commercial scale food waste to energy facility at our Aurora Sewage Treatment Plant,” Yarra Valley Water Managing Director Pat McCafferty said.
“Today, we’re proud to announce the start of construction of our second food waste to energy facility, which will be 50 per cent larger than our first.”
The Lilydale facility will generate up to 39,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per day – enough to power the equivalent of more than 2200 Victorian households. It is expected to be fully operational by 2026.
Food waste has become an enormous environmental issue in Australia, with nearly 300kg generated per person annually according to the government’s National Food Waste Strategy. In Victoria alone, over two million tonnes of food waste is produced each year.
“In Victoria, we’re generating over two million tonnes of food waste per year. Almost half of that ends up in landfills – having a devastating impact on our environment,” McCafferty said.
“The good news is that these are figures that can be changed, thanks to innovative projects like this and a change in consumer and retailer behaviours.”
The new facility will use anaerobic digestors, leveraging the same natural process as the company’s existing award-winning plant in Wollert which has diverted over 175,000 tonnes of food waste since 2017. Organic waste materials are broken down to generate biogas that powers electricity turbines.
“It works just like a human stomach. The waste is fed into digestors, and as it breaks down it generates biogas which in turn powers electricity turbines,” McCafferty said.
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