Waste to energy (sometimes known as energy recovery) is a proven technology that recovers the energy from waste that can’t be recycled or composted. For households, this is the contents of your general waste (red lidded) bin. The waste is heated to very high temperatures (at least 850°C) in a controlled process to extract energy. In WA, this energy (in the form of steam) is used to generate base load electricity for the South West Interconnecting System (SWIS).
The process reduces carbon emissions in three ways:
- It reduces landfill, which means less greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere from decomposing waste
- It generates green energy which is exported to the power grid. This means less energy needs to be produced by fossil fuel sources such as coal or gas.
- It extracts any remaining recyclable materials, metal scrap, which is reclaimed. The ash created through the combustion process can be used in construction.
From mid-2026, waste to energy is replacing landfill for your general waste. Waste to energy doesn’t change how you sort your waste! It’s still important to be a GREAT sort and do better than the general waste bin in the first place.
If you’d like to know more, please check out the WMRC website.