CEFC backs waste management sector with $90m Cleanaway loan

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has tipped $90 million into Australia’s waste management sector, with a corporate loan to ASX-listed Cleanaway, that will help the industry-leading company fast-track projects aimed at diverting waste from landfill, including using it to generate renewable energy.

CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth said the finance would be used across a range of eligible waste management projects being developed by Cleanaway, including a best-in-class resource recovery centre at Erskine Park in NSW.

The recovery centre – the first confirmed project to draw on the CEFC finance – is expected to be capable of processing 150,000 tonnes of waste a year, diverting approximately 40 per cent of waste volume from landfill.

“Australia currently generates around 48 million tonnes of waste a year, with as much as 44 per cent of this ending up as landfill,” Learmonth said in comments on Wednesday.

“It is critical that we reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and better manage landfill emissions.”

Cleanaway – which has been one the darlings of the Australian CleanTech Index, charting a more than 30 per cent gain in share price in 2017, so far – operates a network of waste collection, processing, treatment and landfill assets from more than 180 locations across Australia.

CEFC Waste Sector Lead Henry Anning said the CEFC finance would enable the company to fast track a range of eligible projects, including facilities for organics processing and resource recovery, as
well as landfill gas projects.

“This is a milestone transaction for the CEFC in the area of waste and bioenergy, which has a vital role to play in our clean energy transition,” Anning said on Wednesday.

“As our first major transaction with a leading Australian waste management company, we are looking to demonstrate how clean energy technologies can be used to tackle the problem of waste emissions.

“Cleanaway is already using innovative solutions to generate renewable energy from waste and reduce landfill, and the company will achieve further significant emissions reductions with this CEFC
finance.”

Cleanaway CEO Vik Bansal said the company already had a strong focus on sustainable practices, and was excited about the CEFC finance would enable it to achieve.

“This CEFC finance will help us accelerate moves away from traditional landfill solutions by adopting technologies and practices that will help us achieve better environmental, social and economic
outcomes,” he said.