Our Sustainable Waste Strategy maps how the City’s Summerhill Waste Management Facility will be transformed into a resource recovery hub, which will maximise the value of material in our yellow and green bins and decrease what ends up in landfill from our red bins.

As part of Newcastle’s 2040 vision, which the Council unanimously adopted in April 2022, the Strategy has been developed to implement best-practice waste management systems to ensure Newcastle remains a liveable and sustainable city. This means maximising the value of the material in our yellow and green bins to support Newcastle’s circular economy, while also reducing what ends up in landfill from our red bins.

We are committed to meeting future infrastructure and service needs in line with the NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041, which will come into effect in July 2022.

We’ve listened closely to the community’s views on waste and resource recovery. It’s one of the reasons we developed the Strategy.

We learned that residents in Newcastle support more responsible waste management. 

• 99% support the City implementing new waste programs and infrastructure
• 93% support maximising the working life of the Summerhill Waste Management Centre
• 75% of residents said they would be willing to change the way they manage waste at home (to reduce waste to landfill) even if there was some inconvenience to them

The draft Our Sustainable Waste Strategy was placed on public exhibition for community feedback from 28 September to 9 November 2022. The Strategy was unanimously adopted by Council on 22 November 2022.

Read all information about Summerhill and the adopted Our Sustainable Waste Strategy here:

Our Sustainable Waste Strategy Strategic Framework (PDF)

Our Sustainable Waste Strategy Apendix 1: White Paper (PDF)

Our Sustainable Waste Strategy Appendix 2: Delivery Plan (PDF)

The Strategy is designed to deliver benefits to the residents of Newcastle and the surrounding region through three critical focus areas:

Planet – we value our community, protecting the earth and its finite resources

People – we value our workforce to keep them safe, see them grow and create new opportunities

Prosperity – we will create enduring value for our community through our operations

Adopting the Strategy will make Newcastle a leader in sustainable waste management and the circular economy.

The circular economy is a model of sustainable materials management, which extracts more value from materials across more stages of their lifecycle. In the circular economy, the natural resources in our products, which end up as waste, are reclaimed and recycled to be kept in circulation.

When compared to the traditional linear process of intensive take-make-use waste model, this circular process creates more economic opportunities while also reducing reliance on new materials and decreasing the waste impact on the environment.

The Strategy will provide a framework for the next 20 years and a delivery plan which will be reviewed every four years. Most importantly, the Strategy will enable us to develop new facilities at our Summerhill Waste Management Centre (SWMC) and new initiatives to provide best outcomes for the community.

SWMC is a unique waste management facility close to Newcastle. Unlike many other populated areas that ship waste to other regions, often hours and hundreds of kilometres away, SWMC is processing waste and providing value for Newcastle and the wider region. Today, SWMC includes:

• A solar farm consisting of 14,500 panels that create 5MW in renewable power, enough to power 1,770 Newcastle homes
• Two landfill gas generators collect enough gas to supply 3,000 homes with 17,000 MWh hours of power per year.
• Includes a resource recovery centre that in the first year of operation recycled 3,100 tonnes, or the weight equivalent of 74 semi-trailers, of waste destined for landfill.
• A landfill which is licensed by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and is permitted to receive up to 362,000 tonnes per annum of waste for landfilling and has a life expectancy of another 100 years.

For more information about SWMC, please visit: https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/summerhill

We’re proposing to expand our operations at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre to include:

A Material Recovery Facility, generally referred to as an "MRF", which will process all household recyclables, including glass, plastics, aluminium, paper, cardboard and steel generated by homes, workplaces, development sites and public spaces. These materials can then be used as a resource to manufacture new products, avoiding the need to mine resources.

A Food Organics and Garden Organics or “FOGO” which will process household organic waste, including food scraps, organic garden material, and other compostable items. The processed materials can then be used for commercial composting returning more nutrients from our used organics to farms to create more food, reducing the reliance on new fertilisers.

Develop a new access road to enter SWMC from the south, via Newcastle Link Road, to enhance amenity around Wallsend/Fletcher. Increasing safety for residents and speeding up access to SWMC for both commercial and private waste delivery.

These developments will vastly increase our capacity to process waste better and expand what residents can put into the green and yellow bins. It will also reduce residents’ reliance on the red bin.

For more information on these facilities please visit the Our Sustainable Waste Strategy website for an overview and in-detail documentation.

What other waste initiatives are happening?

https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/collection-services/your-kerbside-waste-service/using-your-bins

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/waste-education/food-waste/home-composting-revolution

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/waste-education/waste-and-recycling-mythbusters

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/sort-and-save

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/soft-plastics

https://www.curbyit.com/softplastics/

https://www.curbyit.com/coffeecapsules/

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/e-waste

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/batteries

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/chemicals/summerhill-community-recycling-centre

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/chemicals/household-chemical-cleanout

https://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/chemicals/community-recycling-stations

Summerhill Waste Management Centre is proposing to expand its operations to include an organics processing facility. This will be a fully-contained composting facility, which includes receiving, composting, maturation, and storage areas. The proposed facility will use new technology to process food and garden organic waste into compost that can be used for landscaping, in agriculture and site rehabilitation.

Summerhill Waste Management Centre consists of a landfill and resource recovery facility owned by CN. The Centre is licensed by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and is permitted to receive up to 362,000 tonnes per annum of waste for landfilling. About 23,000 tonnes of organics and 20,000 tonnes of recyclables are also received every year, but these materials are currently transported to other facilities for processing.

CN is in the process of constructing a fully enclosed Organics Processing Facility at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre. This Organics Processing Facility together with the proposed MRF will create a resource recovery hub for the Hunter Region.

The facility design contains the following elements:

• Dedicated spaces to sequentially receive, process and dispatch organics waste in a completely contained facility.
• Processing equipment that includes the initial intensive composting phase for 14 days, followed by 28 days of aerated maturation and another 20 days of passive maturation.
• An active odour control system ensures that air is continuously drawn from the facility buildings to keep it under a constant state of negative air pressure. Chemical scrubbers and a biofilter are installed on the exhaust to mitigate odour produced within the facility before it is discharged

The following works also need to be carried out to prepare the site for the Organics Processing Facility:

• The site of the Organics Processing Facility has existing organics and recycling processing activities carried out upon it. These activities need to be relocated to other parts of the site.
• The site will be cleared and decontaminated. Mine grouting will be undertaken to ensure the safety of the ground beneath the structure.
• Bulk earthworks will be carried out to install the finished levels and to install stormwater controls.

A summary of the works required to enable the Organics Facility can be found on the information sheet here.

• Currently food waste generated in Newcastle is disposed to landfill. Both CN and the community share the desire to reduce waste to landfill and increase resource recovery. The organic processing facility is part of how we can achieve that.
• The organics processing facility will allow us to collect and process food organics in addition to garden organics.
• Collecting food waste will divert approximately 6,000 tonnes of waste from landfill each year.
• Once completed, the facility will be capable of processing 50,000 tonnes of organic waste each year, creating an opportunity to reduce waste and encourage more sustainable resource management locally.
• By diverting waste from landfill and processing food and garden material from households and businesses in the Local Government Area, the facility will be contributing to our goal of net zero emissions from its operations by 2030.
• We are committed to meeting future infrastructure and service needs in line with NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 which sets a target of halving the amount of organics waste sent to landfill by 2030.

It is proposed that our kerbside collection vehicles will collect food and garden organic waste from households via the green lid bin and deliver it to the facility via the existing site entrance at Summerhill Waste Management Centre.

The waste material would be unloaded within the enclosed facility, where it would undergo ‘pre-treatment’, to remove unsuitable material from the organic waste stream. The organic waste is then transferred to sealed tunnels for 14 days of intensive composting.

From here, the immature compost is transferred to aerated maturation bays for 28 days.

Once the compost has matured it is screened, with large or inorganic particles being separated from smaller ones.

The compost is transferred to passive maturation bays where it undergoes final quality testing before storage / dispatch.

Currently Summerhill Waste Management Centre is only able to sort and shred garden organic material, which is then transported off site for further processing.

The proposed organics processing facility will be able to process food waste as well as garden organics. This significantly increases our ability to reduce the amount of the region’s organic waste that ends up in landfill.

Organics processing helps us extend the life of a landfill site by reducing the amount of material that ends up in the landfill and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the landfill.

The State Government has mandated that all local governments introduce collection and processing of food and garden organic waste by 2030, and major commercial generators by 2025.

As of May 2022, we have submitted a development application (DA) for the design and construction of the organics processing facility, following which there will be a public exhibition of the proposal to allow the community to have its say on the proposed design and operations. The proposal will be subject to approval by the Joint Regional Planning Panel.

If the application is successful, construction will begin in 2023, with an expected construction duration of up to 12 months.

The proposed organics processing facility will reduce the amount of the region’s waste that ends up in landfill.

Organics processing helps us extend the life of a landfill site by reducing the amount of material that ends up in the landfill and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the landfill.

The organics processing facility is being designed to be an entirely enclosed facility that will contain noise and odour. The facility is a single-story building, located within the existing Summerhill Waste Management Centre. The facility is unlikely to be visible from nearby residential streets. An active odour control system ensures that air is continuously drawn from the facility buildings to keep it under a constant state of negative pressure. Air pollution control devices are installed on the exhaust to reduce the odour before it is discharged meeting environmental regulations.

The facility will be owned and operated by City of Newcastle. It is expected that approximately 180 jobs will be generated throughout construction and between 8 and 10 jobs during ongoing operation.

There is currently no proposal to increase rates.

At this stage Council has not made a decision about distribution of the compost from the facility.

The timeframe around the kerbside collection of food organics and garden organics is currently being considered by Council.

The technology proposed has been developed by Waste Treatment Technologies (WTT) based in the Netherlands. WTT have built over 125 facilities across the globe utilising this technology. The WTT technology has been used to develop organics processing facilities in NSW and Victoria.

Construction is expected to commence in 2023.

Once approved, construction is expected to take up to 12 months.

Truck activity is expected to remain the same as it is currently, with the new facility utilising the existing entrance and exit routes to Summerhill Waste Management Centre, off Minmi Road.

The organics processing facility will accept source-separated food and garden organics wastes collected in dedicated kerbside collection bins and process them into compost that meets both Australian standard for composts, soil conditioners and mulches and all relevant NSW EPA regulations.

Conversion of waste into compost is a beneficial waste minimisation technique as it avoids disposal of the food and garden organic wastes to landfill, reducing the impacts that landfills have on the environment.

Communities can achieve major environmental benefits by separating and recycling organic materials. Proper waste management helps improve air and water quality as well as reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It helps in reducing pollution and energy consumption associated with manufacturing new materials.

City of Newcastle is committed to meeting future infrastructure and service needs in line with the NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 which will come into effect in July 2022.

The City of Newcastle (CN) is proposing to expand its operations at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre to include a Material Recovery Facility, generally referred to as a "MRF".

The purpose of a MRF is  to sort co-mingled recyclables into separate materials streams such as paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel and aluminium. The segregated recyclable streams are baled (except glass which is stored in large bins) and can then be sold to various recyclers for use in the manufacture of new products.

The MRF will receive recyclables from CN household recycling bins, recyclables from other Councils and some recyclables from the commercial sector such as shops and restaurants. The sorted recyclables will be free of contaminants and of high quality so recycling markets can be easily found. The MRF will be able to process up to 85,000 tonnes of recyclables per annum.

The Summerhill Waste Management Centre consists of a landfill and resource recovery facility owned by CN. The Centre is licensed by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and is permitted to receive up to 362,000 tonnes per annum of waste for landfilling. About 23,000 tonnes of organics and 20,000 tonnes of recyclables are also received every year, but these materials are currently transported to other facilities for processing.

CN is in the process of constructing a fully enclosed Organics Processing Facility at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre. The Organics Processing Facility together with the proposed MRF will create a resource recovery hub for the Hunter Region.

The facility design contains the following elements:

• A new building equipped with state-of-the-art sorting equipment to allow the highly automated segregation of co-mingled recyclables into individual material streams.
• Sorting equipment include conveyers, screens, optical sorting units (for plastics and glass), eddy current separators to sort metals from aluminium and glass breakers.
• Storage bays for baled recyclables awaiting transport to recyclers
• A new weighbridge to weigh incoming and outgoing trucks
• Staff facilities, office and an education centre

Until 2020, recyclables from most Hunter Councils including CN's were processed at a MRF located at Gateshead. This MRF, which was owned by a contractor, closed unexpectedly in 2020. Since the closure of the only MRF in the Hunter Region, recyclables collected from our households have been transported to a processing facility on the Central Coast which is very expensive. A MRF located at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre has the following benefits:

• It will allow processing of recyclables in Newcastle and eliminate long distance transport to other processing facilities.
• Processing recyclables locally is more cost efficient than long distance haulage.
• It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding long distance haulage.
• As the MRF will be owned by CN, the risk of unexpected closure is removed and the recycling services can be guaranteed into the future.
• It will allow greater control of the quality of the sorting process and the destination of the recyclables.
• It will create up to 28 new jobs.
• It will complement the Organics Processing Facility in the creation of a Resource Recovery Hub at SWMC that will incentivise the establishment of secondary businesses and create additional jobs.
• Recyclables from other Councils and the commercial sector can be accepted reducing the processing cost for Newcastle households through economies of scale.
• Our community has told us that they support building a local MRF

Recycling trucks empty the household recycling bins and then deliver the content to the MRF at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre. The co-mingled recyclables are unloaded inside the enclosed facility onto conveyors. The first step is removing non-recyclable materials (contamination) which must be done by hand.

Conveyors move the co-mingled recyclables through a disk screen where paper and cardboard are separated and glass is removed from the conveyor. Eddy currents split ferrous metals and aluminium. Plastics are sorted using optical separators.

The separated and clean paper, cardboard, aluminium, steel and plastics are baled so they can be efficiently stored. Glass is stored in large bins.

The baled materials or glass bins are temporarily stored on site. When markets are available, they are then loaded onto trucks for transport to recycling facilities where they are used to manufacture new materials.

The sorting process inside a MRF is highly automated.

We intend to submit a development application (DA) supported by an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for planning approval later in 2022. Once the DA is submitted, there will be a public exhibition of the EIS to allow the community to have its say on the proposed design and operations. The proposal will be subject to approval by the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel.

If the application is successful, construction will begin during 2023, with an expected completion date later in 2024.

The proposed MRF will form a critical part of CN’s plan to create a Resource Recovery hub which focuses on diverting waste from landfill and contributing to a circular economy. This MRF will increase the capacity for recycling in Newcastle and the broader Hunter region. The MRF will be able to process and recover up to 2 million tonnes of recyclables over 25 years which can be used to make new products.

The MRF will be powered from the solar farm located at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre and solar panels on the roof of the MRF. In addition, the MRF will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding lengthy haulage of recyclables to a MRF on the Central Coast.

The MRF operations will be conducted in a fully enclosed building to contain any noise and odour. The recyclables to be sorted and processed in the MRF have a low potential for odour. The MRF will be designed to minimise noise impacts during operation, taking into consideration equipment and plant, vehicle movements and access. The MRF will be of similar height to other buildings at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre and is unlikely to be visible from nearby residences. 

The MRF will be owned by CN, however it may be operated by a contractor. It is expected that up to twenty-eight fulltime jobs will be created when the MRF is operational at its capacity.

There is currently no proposal to increase rates.

Construction is expected to commence later in 2023.

Construction is expected to take up to 16 months. It is anticipated that the MRF can be commissioned late in 2024 and will be fully operational by early 2025.

While the MRF will have capacity to process recyclables from other Councils and also from the commercial sector, it is anticipated that for the first few years only recyclables from CN households will sorted in the MRF. During this time, truck activity along Minmi Road is expected to remain largely the same or even reduce as the daily haulage of recyclables to the Central Coast will no longer be required.

Recycling is a key component of waste reduction and leads to many benefits. Recycling reduces the impact that manufactured items have on the environment by diverting materials away from landfill and reducing litter.

The MRF will process all household recyclables including glass, plastics, aluminium, paper, cardboard and steel generated by homes, workplaces, development sites and public spaces. These materials can then be used as a resource to manufacture new products, avoiding the need to mine resources. This helps to improve air and water quality, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reduces energy consumption.

City of Newcastle is committed to meeting future infrastructure and service needs in line with the NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041.