Golf course opens on old landfill site

The NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Carmel Tebbutt, along with the Member for Menai, Alison Megarrity, have officially opened The Ridge Golf Course on the site of the old Lucas Heights landfill.

The old Lucas Heights landfill was operated by WSN (formerly Waste Service NSW) between 1976 and 1987. The new golf course was part of an agreement in 1996 between the NSW government, WSN and Sutherland Council, which involved extensive community consultation, especially with the many sporting groups in the area.

The nine-hole course in Southern Sydney, which is part of the $83 million Ridge Sporting Complex, was funded by the NSW government and WSN. It features a high-tech watering system, including a 46-megalitre dam, which can be used to irrigate the course, making the complex environmentally sustainable.

“Sustainability is about environmental and social responsibility and when you combine these fantastic sporting facilities with the responsible management of greenhouse gases at the adjoining Lucas Heights II landfill, you have a great example of sustainability in action,” Tebbutt said.

The Ridge Sports Complex complements the landfill, where methane from decomposing household waste is used to generate renewable energy.

The site features a power station that exports enough renewable energy to the NSW Energy grid to power 16,000 homes - enough for every household in the surrounding suburbs.

“The Ridge is a fabulous example of what can be achieved when the local community, the NSW government, the site operator WSN Environmental Solutions and Sutherland Shire Council all work together to achieve a common goal,” Tebbutt said.

The site will further enhance its sustainability credentials, with WSN planning to build a new alternative waste treatment (AWT) plant that will divert waste from landfill and manage it more sustainably through resource recovery.

This AWT project is consistent with the NSW government’s waste and environment levy that continues to increase the cost of landfill and makes sustainable waste processing more attractive.