Administering Victoria's Waste to Energy Scheme
Waste to energy is an important part of the Victorian Government's 10-year circular economy policy.
Waste to energy involves turning waste material into useful energy resources such as heat, electricity, gas and liquid fuels. After waste avoidance, reuse, and recycling, waste to energy is the final opportunity to get value from material that would go to landfill.
Victoria's Waste to Energy Scheme implements the Victorian Waste to Energy Framework.
The Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act (the Act) provides for the Head, Recycling Victoria to:
- issue licences
- regulate thermal waste to energy facilities.
The Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) (Waste to Energy Scheme) Regulations detail how the waste to energy scheme is regulated.
Facilities licenced under the scheme will be allowed to process permitted waste. Permitted waste is:
- municipal solid waste (MSW) residual waste (other than municipal food and garden organics, and municipal recycling material) that has undergone source separation
- commercial and industrial waste that is not technically, environmentally, or economically practicable to further reuse or recycle.
The Act provides for 2 kinds of licences:
- existing operator licence
- cap licence.
Existing operators have until 11:59pm on Monday 4 December 2023 to apply for an existing operator licence.
Expressions of interest for cap licences are not yet open.
Stage 1: Existing operator licences – applications now open
Under the Act, an existing operator can apply for a waste to energy operating licence from Recycling Victoria.
An existing operator must have a current licence or permit granted under either the:
That licence or permit must:
- allow for the processing of permitted waste using a thermal waste-to-energy process
- have been in force immediately before 1 November 2021.
The Act and Regulations set out the:
- kind of information applicants must supply in the application for an existing operator licence
- matters the Head of Recycling Victoria must consider in deciding whether to issue an existing operator licence.
Apply
Existing operators of thermal waste to energy facilities are invited to email wastetoenergy.licence@delwp.vic.gov.au to apply for a licence to operate.
Applications close 11:59pm on Monday 4 December 2023.
Stage 2: Cap licences
Future regulations will:
- establish a volume cap for new thermal waste to energy facilities
- allow operators of new thermal waste to energy facilities to apply to Recycling Victoria for cap licence
- outline the process and requirements to make an application for a cap licence.
The Head, Recycling Victoria will call for an expression of interest (EOI) for cap licences.
EOIs for cap licences will be open to new operators as well as existing operators who wish to increase the volume of permitted waste processed by their facility.
Successful EOIs will be invited to apply for a cap licence. The Head, Recycling Victoria will then decide whether to issue a licence for a particular allocation of the cap to their thermal waste to energy facility.
Once the volume cap is reached, no further licences can be issued.
If capacity becomes available (for instance by the closure of a project or removal of a licence from an operator), the Head, Recycling Victoria may choose to run another EOI process to allocate the available volume.
Expressions of interest for cap licences are not yet open.
Further information
Reviewed 31 August 2023