Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has welcomed the decision by Recycling Victoria to award the first energy from waste licence to a Latrobe Valley project.
Mr Chester, who successfully fought for a $48.2 million Federal Government grant for the Maryvale Energy from Waste project, says it’s a ‘big step forward for a project that will create jobs and improve energy security’.
“This joint venture has been worked on for several years and is designed to recover heat and power from municipal and commercial waste to support large-scale manufacturing in the Latrobe Valley,” Mr Chester said.
“The proposed Maryvale project will be a first for Victoria but the technology is well developed around the world, and also here in Australia with a project on the outskirts of Perth.
“The Maryvale project will take waste and convert it to energy for the mill and potentially other users in the future.”
Mr Chester said the waste was non-recyclable material that would otherwise end up in landfill and it made sense to use it for reliable energy generation.
“If you can divert material from landfill by recycling or using it to create energy, it’s a better outcome for the environment,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done by the project proponents but this is a welcome development and I look forward to seeing further progress in the months ahead.”