The Woodlawn Alternative Sorting and Processing (WASP) facility will be built in modules which can treat up to 120,000 tonnes per year of municipal solid and commercial waste, with a total capacity of 240,000 tonnes per year. Waste will be sourced from the Sydney region and delivered to Collex's Crisps Creek intermodal facility (approximately 10 kilometres from Woodlawn) via rail and will be transferred to trucks for the final 10 kilometre road journey to Woodlawn.

Waste received at the WASP facility will be sorted by purpose built machinery into organic and predominantly inert fractions for further processing. The system will also separate metal from both fractions.

The organic part of the waste will be composted in open windrows to produce a range of compost materials that will be used in rehabilitation and landscape projects on site. The organic material will be kept in windrows for 8 to 10 weeks so that it can become biologically stable and odour free.

Recyclables will be recovered by hand from the inert fraction and separated for transport to further processing off site.

The WASP facility is designed to recover up to 80% of the waste it receives for re-use and recycling. The process recovers:

1. Metal;
2. Glass;
3. Plastics; and
4. Organics.

The WASP facility can also be modified to produce a substitute fuel product from the inorganic part of the waste stream. This can be used to replace fossil fuels.

Products recovered in the WASP facility will be recycled and re-used, reducing the demand for raw materials. The recovery of recycled materials and the diversion of waste from landfill will help reduce the greenhouse gas impact of waste disposal in NSW.



View an artists impression of the process (168 kb)

The Woodlawn AWT facility proposal includes the Woodlawn Composted Organics and Greenwaste (WOCOG) facility, to be located adjacent to the WASP facility. The WOCOG facility will receive up to 40,000 tonnes per year of garden waste(and potentially other source separated organic material), which will be processed to produce a high quality compost through open windrow composting. It is anticipated that greenwaste will be transported to the WOCOG facility from Sydney by rail, utilising Collex's existing Crisps Creek intermodal facility at Tarago.