Hamilton to process livestock waste locally, cutting 100 truck trips a year

Southern Grampians Shire Council will cut 100 truck trips a year by processing livestock waste locally for the first time, keeping thousands of tonnes of effluent from the Hamilton saleyards in the region instead of transporting it more than 100km away.

How much exactly? Chris Dahlenburg, who has worked at the Hamilton Livestock Exchange for 38 years, said with a laugh he’s “never really measured it”. 

🗣️: “It just piles up during the year, and we let it dry out over the summer,” he told the Brolga. 

❓What happened: From spring of this year, Southern Grampians Shire Council will collect thousands of tonnes of livestock effluent, and green waste from household bins, to be processed at the Hamilton Transfer Station. Six new In-Vessel Rapid Composting systems, built off-site in Ballarat, will be used to create compost and soil products from the waste. 

The council told the Brolga the move to local processing would help reduce emissions. 

Council expects to use the by-products created from the waste as a new stream of revenue, to be resold as compost, “after a period of testing to deem the product safe”.

Why does it matter? A reduction in trips is positive for more than just the local shire. 

The Truck Industry Council says that in Australia trucks account for four percent of national greenhouse gas emissions. The federal government puts this figure at 11 percent, and that’s only for rigid trucks, where the cabin and cargo area are attached to one chassis. 

While Australia’s transport sector has been the largest source of growing emissions since the 1990s, recent federal government emissions data suggests they may have peaked.

The new plant will process over 5,000 tonnes of food waste annually. The council told the Brolga between 2,000 - 3,000 of this will be livestock by-products. 

👥 What people said: Dahlenburg said that before trucks transported the waste, locals had been able to help themselves.

🗣️: “A few farmers took a bit, a few local people came and got a few trailer loads, and they just worked with it,” he said, adding that farmers would previously compost the waste for up to 12 months before using it on their paddocks. 

As for the new approach, Dahlenburg said: “I can’t see why it won’t work.” 

Header Image: Southern Grampians Shire Council