Bulla will be the home of green waste recycling in Melbourne’s north-west following the opening of a $30 million facility last Thursday.
The centre will be used by 11 councils and will turn green waste into high-grade compost for agriculture.
Veolia Environmental Services, which will operate the recycling centre, expects to process about 85,000 tonnes of green waste every year, including bush trimmings, lawn clippings and smaller branches of trees.
This will be turned into about 60,000 tonnes of high-grade compost, to be sold to commercial operators.
Environment Minister Ryan Smith said the enclosed centre, the first of its kind in Victoria, would divert food and green waste from landfill and drive new markets for high-quality compost products.
Veolia managing director Doug Dean described the centre as a great example of sustainability that would also help reduce the need for new landfills in the region.
“Importantly, the process to be used at the new centre is aerobic, which means it avoids generating methane,” he said. “Methane is a greenhouse gas that is released naturally if the waste was simply disposed in a landfill.
“Turning this green waste into a useful product, such as high-grade compost, not only makes business sense but is also good news for the environment.”
Hume deputy mayor Casey Nunn said all councils involved needed to work in partnership with the community to collect and manage waste as efficiently and responsibly as possible.
“Veolia’s new composting facility will process green waste to produce compost, mulch and soil additives that can be used in agriculture and horticulture and community parks and gardens,” she said.
