Energy from waste is an emerging technology in Australia. It involves the thermal treatment of residual waste (waste that cannot be recycled) for the recovery of energy in the form of heat, electricity or fuel.
The NSW Government has established a policy and strategic framework to guide the assessment of energy from waste proposals in NSW. This framework ensures energy from waste facilities meet strict performance standards and are located in areas that best address the state’s waste management needs.
Energy from waste proposals must represent the most efficient use of the resource and demonstrate that they are using global best practice techniques to ensure air quality and human health are protected.
Strategic and regulatory framework
The Energy from Waste Framework was reviewed by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in 2025. The NSW Waste and Circular Infrastructure Plan, released by the EPA in late 2025, outlines how the Energy from Waste Framework will be updated to better enable energy from waste in NSW.
Energy from waste precincts
The revised Energy from Waste Framework limits proposals that thermally treat mixed residual waste streams (such as household ‘red bin’ waste) to 4 regional precincts, with some exceptions:
- Parkes Special Activation Precinct
- Southern Goulburn Mulwaree Precinct
- a redefined boundary of the existing West Lithgow Precinct
- a new precinct at Tomago.
Energy from waste precincts must:
- be close to existing or planned infrastructure
- be connected to existing or planned road or rail infrastructure
- support existing waste, net zero and regional growth strategies.
While the NSW Waste and Circular Infrastructure Plan and supporting regulatory framework identify certain areas as suitable for energy from waste, all energy from waste proposals will be subject to a rigorous whole-of-government merit assessment process led by the Department. Applicants must demonstrate strict compliance with air quality and operating standards for the protection of human health and the environment.
Energy from Waste Policy Statement
The NSW Energy from Waste Policy Statement is the key policy document that guides the assessment of thermal energy from waste facilities in NSW. The policy outlines the policy framework and technical criteria that apply to facilities proposing to recover energy from waste in NSW.
The policy is underpinned by the key objectives of NSW’s waste legislation, being:
- Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997: to ensure human health and the environment are protected.
- Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 (WARR Act): to encourage the most efficient use of resources and to ensure waste management is considered in an orderly manner (avoid, reuse, recycle and energy recovery).
The policy is being updated as outlined in the NSW Waste and Circular Infrastructure Plan, including emission limits and monitoring requirements consistent with global best practice. The EPA is undertaking this work.
Other key elements of the revised policy framework include:
- requiring comprehensive human health and environmental risk assessments for PFAS (man-made chemicals known as ‘polyfluoroalkyl substances’)
- a consistent approach to the regulation of ash residues generated by the thermal treatment process.
For more information about the EPA’s review of the framework and updates to the Energy from Waste Policy Statement, visit the NSW Environment Protection Authority.
Assessment of energy from waste facilities in NSW
Where permissible, energy recovery from waste proposals must represent the most efficient use of the resource and demonstrate they are using global best practice techniques to ensure air quality and human health are protected.
All current energy from waste proposals in NSW can be found at Major Projects.
Waste hierarchy
NSW Government waste policy and legislation is underpinned by the waste hierarchy, which provides guidance on the order of preference for a range of waste management approaches to achieve efficient resource use.
The recovery of energy is considered a less preferable approach in the waste hierarchy to the higher order outcomes of avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle.
Assessment process
Thermal energy from waste proposals are assessed as state significant if the proposal:
- meets the relevant thresholds for capital investment or thermal processing capacity specified in Schedule 1 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021.
- is called-in as state significant development by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
The Department undertakes a thorough merit-based assessment of the proposal in line with the requirements set out in section 4.15 of the EP&A Act. This merit-based approach ensures the Department’s assessment considers the potential social, economic and environmental impacts, all relevant policies and legislation, the public interest and site suitability.
As part of this process, the Department consults with key stakeholders, including the community, councils, independent expert consultants and state government agencies. In particular, the Department works closely with the EPA and NSW Health in its assessment of the application to ensure the issues of air quality and human health are thoroughly considered. For proposals in regional areas, we will also seek advice from the Department of Primary Industries.
Community input is a vital part of the assessment process and all submissions received will be considered by the applicant and the Department.
The Department’s assessment of the proposal will consider the objects of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and the matters to be considered by a consent authority listed in Section 4.15 of the EP&A Act.
The assessment will involve consideration of:
- consistency with the EPA’s Energy from Waste Policy and the NSW Government’s Energy from Waste regulatory and strategic framework
- the likely impacts of the proposal, including environmental impacts on the natural and built environment and the social and economic impacts in the locality
- the suitability of the site for the development
- need and justification for the proposal
- submissions and advice from the public, special interest groups and government authorities
- advice from independent experts
- the relevant state policies, strategies and plans
- the current need for waste management infrastructure in the region
- whether the proposal is in the public interest.
The Department issues Planning Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements for all energy from waste proposals. The requirements set out the key issues for assessment that must be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement for the state significant development application. As part of the statement, an applicant must provide an assessment of the potential impacts of all stages of the development, in accordance with the requirements. This includes any cumulative impacts of the proposed facility with any approved (but not yet constructed) developments and any other proposed energy from waste proposals.
As a minimum, this includes an assessment of the impacts associated with air quality, human health and ecological risks, odour, traffic, noise, social and visual amenity. The key issues for assessment are tailored to each individual proposal.
Impacts are assessed in consultation with key government authorities, such as the EPA, HSW Health and the Department of Primary Industries and the local council, and the Department’s independent experts.
As part of the Planning Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements the Department requires applicants to complete community consultation activities before the Environmental Impact Statement is lodged. Consultation activities must be carried out having regard to the Department’s Undertaking Engagement Guidelines for State Significant Projects (PDF, 8.3 MB).
As a minimum, the applicant is required to prepare a detailed community and stakeholder participation strategy in the statement which identifies who in the community has been consulted and a justification for their selection, other stakeholders consulted and the form(s) of the consultation, including justification for the approach.
As part of the statement, applicants are required to demonstrate they have genuinely engaged with and listened to the community. They must also detail how they have responded to the issues raised during their consultation with the community and key stakeholders.
When a state significant development application and statement is lodged, the Department will place these documents on public exhibition for a minimum of 28 days. The community, key stakeholders and government authorities will be invited to make a submission on the proposal during the public exhibition period. As part of its assessment of the application, the Department will consider all issues raised in submissions.
The Department requires applicants to continue their engagement with the community during the public exhibition period, and to respond to all issues raised in submissions received by the Department during the exhibition.
There are 2 possible consent authorities for state significant energy from waste proposals:
- Minister for Planning and Public Spaces
- NSW Independent Planning Commission.
The Minister has delegated his power to make decisions to senior officers of the Department and the Commission.
However, the NSW Independent Planning Commission is the consent authority for state significant development applications in the following circumstances:
- where the council of the area has objected to the proposal, or
- where the Department has received more than 50 unique public objections, or
- where the state significant development application has been made by a person who has disclosed a reportable political donation in connection with the development application.
For more information about applications referred to or determined by the commission, visit the Independent Planning Commission.
Frequently asked questions
Energy from waste is used to generate energy from the thermal treatment of waste. There are a range of different approaches and technologies that thermally treat waste to produce energy.
One approach is the combustion of residual waste to produce steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity and/or heat.
Residual waste is the waste left over after all recyclable or re-usable material has been removed following a resource recovery process or source separation collection system. Residual waste is the waste that is sent to landfill.
A reference facility is a fully operational plant using the same technologies and treating like waste streams in another similar jurisdiction.
The reference facility is a key requirement of the NSW Energy from Waste Policy as it:
- demonstrates performance of the facility using real data from an operating facility
- demonstrates the proposed emissions limits can be met.
This ensures the protection of air quality and human health.
Thermal energy from waste technology using residual waste as a fuel is an emerging technology in NSW.
In Western Australia, 2 large-scale thermal energy from waste facilities proposing to use residual waste as a fuel have been approved. To date, only one has commenced operation – the Kwinana Waste to Energy Project. The second one, the East Rockingham Waste to Energy Facility, is constructed and in the commissioning phase.
The Kwinana Waste to Energy Project has the capacity to process up to 460,000 tonnes of residual waste each year to produce up to 38 megawatts of baseload energy.
In Victoria, there are 5 energy from waste facilities proposed. The largest of these is approved to process up to 650,000 tonnes of residual waste each year at the Australian Paper Mill site in Maryland. The proposal is a partnership between Opal Australian Paper, Masdar Tribe and Veolia.
In Queensland, Gold Coast City Council is proposing to construct and operate an energy from waste facility as part of its new Advanced Resource Recovery Centre. The proposed facility is forecast to process more than 300,000 tonnes of residual waste annually.
Energy from waste is a proven technology used globally to generate energy from the thermal treatment of waste. There are over 2,000 energy from waste plants operating globally, with around 80 facilities operating in the United States, over 1,000 in Japan (22 in Tokyo alone) and over 400 facilities throughout Europe. In Paris alone, there are 3 energy from waste plants with treatment capacities ranging from 460,000 to 700,000 tonnes of residual household waste each year (a combined capacity of approximately 1.8 million tonnes annually).
Find out about the proposal for a new energy from waste facility.
Find out about the proposed energy recovery facility that would produce electrical energy from residual waste feedstock.
More information
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