The Resource Recovery Facility will be capable of diverting more than 90 per cent of mixed waste from landfill.

Bioelektra Australia is set to build and operate a new waste processing facility in West Nowra, New South Wales, that will extend the landfill life of the Shoalhaven to more than 50 years.

The Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) will be an Australian first, capable of diverting more than 90 per cent of mixed waste from landfill.

Bioelektra Australia has entered a 20-year contract with Shoalhaven City Council to build the facility.

Works will commence this year with the facility, which is the third of its kind in the world. It is expected to be fully operationally by 2021.

All of the Shoalhaven area’s household and commercial mixed waste (red lid bins) will be processed at the RRF.

Everything that can be reused or recycled will be extracted in one process. The facility is set to be Australia’s first advanced waste treatment plant capable of diverting waste from landfill.

The process involves sterilising and drying the waste to eliminate odours. The dry material is then sorted through a series of screens into its separate recyclable components.

Bioelektra Australia was established two years ago by CEO Fred Itaoui, who says the RFF will be a game-changer in the industry.

“Finally red lid-bins are not a problem, but a resource,” he told INCLEAN. “In commercial buildings and retail centres, there will be no need for source separation.”

Itaoui, who is also managing director of Clearlink Services, said there are plans to open a second plant in Western Sydney.

“Australia is considered to be one of the leaders in waste segregation, but this has stalled. Our simple but effective technology will solve this.

“Various councils and industry professionals have been promoting further segregation, but at Bioelektra we don’t believe this will achieve the diversion result required.

“We want people to be conscious of what they are throwing in the bin rather than be consumed with which bin their waste belongs to.”