Singleton Waste Management Facility (WMF) has become the first site in NSW to secure Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) approval to install evaporation technology to help with the short-term management of leachate volume.

Leachate is the contaminated liquid that results when rain filtering through waste in landfill breaks down. If it’s not adequately managed, pollutants including heavy metals and other harmful chemical substances can leak into the environment.

Singleton Council manages leachate at the WMF in a number of ways, including conveyance of leachate liquid from landfill cells into a leachate evaporation dam, reducing exposed landfill surfaces, surface water diversion measures and quarterly ground and surface water monitoring events undertaken at the site.

But Aaron Malloy, Council’s Acting Director Infrastructure and Planning said improvements to on-site containment capacity were required to meet future landfilling and extension requirements.

As well as progressing plans for a longer-term project to construct a new leachate holding pond later this year, Council secured a temporary EPA licence to install a BeneVap system to process approximately two megalitres of leachate currently contained on the site in the short-term.

“The BeneVap system evaporates the water component of the leachate, leaving behind a more benign form of the original contaminants which can then be safely returned to the landfill containment cell,” he said.

“This is the first time the EPA has granted a licence to allow this technology in NSW, and it was a method we pursued due to limited leachate management options available to Council at the present time.

“The technology will significantly lower the leachate currently stored in the existing on-site holding pond, freeing up capacity which was particularly important in the significant rainfall event recently, and reducing the likelihood of offsite leachate discharge into the environment.”

The system was mobilised to site in late 2024, and was so far operating as expected since the project commenced in early January 2025 with approximately one megalitre treated.

“We had a target to reduce on-site leachate volume by 95 per cent, relieving increased environmental stress from by in-cell leachate storage,” Mr Malloy said.

“The temporary licence approval expires on 28 February 2025, and we’re confident we’re on track to achieve our target by then.

“We’re also progressing construction of a new 8ML leachate holding pond in 2025, along with an overall Site Master Plan to assist in planning for the operational capabilities of the Singleton Waste Management Facility into the future.”