Plastic waste burning trial at cement factory prompts backlash

Waste burning trial at Adbri cement site prompts backlash from council Mon 20 Jul 2026 at 6:53pm In short: Adelaide cement maker Adbri will be allowed to burn more plastic waste for fuel at its Birkenhead factory from Tuesday. The six-week trial is being opposed by a local mayor, the council and a resident group. What's next? The Environment Protection Authority says there will be extensive monitoring and a report is expected within 90 days of the trial's completion. An Adelaide cement factory has been given the green light to burn more plastic waste for fuel in a decision a local council is seeking to challenge in the courts. The Adbri cement factory at Port Adelaide has for decades been at the centre of local controversy over emissions, which health authorities maintain are at safe levels. The SA Environment Protection Authority (EPA) last week approved a six-week trial permitting Adbri to use greater amounts of "refuse-derived fuel" (RDF), largely sourced from the construction sector. The factory's calciner has been allowed to burn up to 32 tonnes per hour with a maximum 20 per cent concentration of plastic. RDF will power the cement kiln at a maximum rate of 10 tonnes per hour and 50 per cent plastic concentration from Tuesday, although the EPA's website says "it is not expected that [rate] will be sustained on an ongoing basis". Port Adelaide Enfield Council last week voted to seek "urgent legal advice" about pursuing an injunction on the trial. The council also wants the government to enact "independent oversight" of the trial, in addition to the EPA's final decision, and 24-hour stack monitoring. Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor Claire Boan told 891 ABC Adelaide's mornings program that residents were concerned about long-term health consequences. "We have not seen nationwide data of any kind whatsoever that actually explains this is safe for our community, and that's a great concern,"she said. "It's not about closing them down. "They've been there for a hundred years, for sure, but we've been here building our homes and that's really important and should be considered as well." Adbri has used RDF since the early 2000s and said it diverted at least 2.7 million tonnes of landfill waste while reducing fossil fuel reliance. "The RDF proposed for use in the trial is a highly processed engineered fuel that must meet strict EPA standards and quality controls before it can be used,"a spokesperson said. Port Adelaide Residents Environment Protection Group long-time member Tony Bazeley said the factory was 50 metres from housing and that there had been odour complaints around the site. "RDF is being used because it's of financial benefit to the company," he said. Mr Bazeley said his group wanted more information about long-term plans at the site, which he said was "far too polluting". "The company are not particularly open as to what they're doing — they do put out information but it's very general," he said. "We won't know any of the results until well after the trial, and that's just not good enough." EPA does 'not expect' to detect plastics EPA compliance director Steven Sergi said pollutant monitoring would occur at different spots, including at the site's stack, and that there would be "ambient air quality" monitoring in the community. He said data would be collected on emissions of various particle types, and of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. "Due to the temperature of the kiln being at 1,400 degrees Celsius, it's expected to have complete combustion of the RDF including of the plastics, paper, cardboard and timber," he said. "We do not expect to see any emissions of plastics at all. "There's parameters set in the licence — as soon as those parameters are exceeded, particularly in relation to air quality, the trial ceases immediately." Mr Sergi said the EPA would be conducting unannounced inspections at the site and a report was expected within 90 days of the trial's completion. "That will include all the monitoring data that we've required … as well as an assessment of how the trial went," he said. "We're particularly interested in the views of the community, plant stability, as well as the emissions from the site — and consistency in the RDF, because ensuring plant stability gives us assurance that the emissions from the site are controlled and within our limits." SA Health said it was aware of the trial and reiterated general health advice to the local community. "The standard precautionary advice for residents who have access to mains water in areas that may be impacted by traffic or industrial emissions is to avoid drinking water from tanks," it said in a statement. "Rainwater collected in tanks generally contains few chemicals, however, there may be increased pollution by airborne contaminants from these heavy traffic or industrial areas."