{"id":606471,"date":"2026-04-14T15:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606471\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T15:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:18:16","slug":"residents-near-adelaide-cement-plant-raise-concerns-about-more-plastic-being-burnt-for-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606471\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents near Adelaide cement plant raise concerns about more plastic being burnt for fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents living near a large cement plant in Adelaide are concerned about the owner wanting to burn more plastic as fuel to replace natural gas.<\/p>\n

Adbri, formerly known as Adelaide Brighton Cement, burns construction and demolition rubbish it refers to as “refuse derived fuel” (RDF) as part of its cement manufacturing process at Birkenhead near Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n

But a local councillor will put up a motion at tonight’s meeting, urging the council to write to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and SA Environment Minister Emily Bourke to express opposition to Adbri increasing the volume of RDF it burns at the plant, and increasing the percentage of plastic in the fuel.<\/p>\n

City of Port Adelaide Enfield Councillor Peter McGregor is also opposed to a trial of the fuel change, which would result in less natural gas being used to make cement.<\/p>\n

“Adbri has been using refuse-derived fuel in the past, which is rubbish, and it currently contains 20 per cent plastic, but what they’re proposing now is to use more RDF and increase the plastic in a separate part of their plant,” he told 891 ABC Adelaide.<\/p>\n

“The issue for us and our community concerns is this plant began producing in 1914 and it lies right next to our community.<\/p>\n

“You could basically throw a rock across the road and hit a house.”<\/p>\n

In a statement, an Adbri spokesperson said the company has hosted information sessions and has encouraged the local community “to provide feedback on proposed trials to further reduce fossil fuel usage” at its Birkenhead facility.<\/p>\n

“This trial, if approved by the EPA, would generate valuable data to allow Adbri to explore further opportunities on how Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) may potentially also be used to replace natural gas at Adbri Birkenhead in the future,” they said.<\/p>\n

Fuel instead of landfill<\/p>\n

Adbri’s website says the RDF it uses is made from waste from the construction and demolition industry that would otherwise be sent to landfill.<\/p>\n

It says it is exploring replacing natural gas with RDF at Birkenhead.<\/p>\n

Adbri’s current licence with the EPA allows it to burn 32 tonnes of RDF an hour.<\/p>\n

The RDF can only include 20 per cent plastic contamination by weight.<\/p>\n

Cr McGregor said the proposal was to increase the amount of plastic in the RDF to 50 per cent, although the EPA would not confirm this.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

City of Port Adelaide Enfield Councillor Peter McGregor. (Supplied: City of Port Adelaide Enfield)<\/p>\n

Cr McGregor said he had been told by Adbri that the RDF burnt cleanly under “optimum operating conditions”.<\/p>\n

“But I think the issue is if something wasn’t to be optimum, I think that would be a concern,” he said.<\/p>\n

An EPA spokesperson told the ABC that Adbri has been authorised to use RDF as a substitute for natural gas at its plant since 2003.<\/p>\n

“The EPA is aware that Adbri is currently engaging with the local community about proposals to use RDF in its kiln, as well as to identify alternate suppliers for RDF into the calciner,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“Adbri has submitted a proposal for a trial of RDF in its kiln. This proposal is being assessed by the EPA in accordance with EPA standards for the production and use of RDF.<\/p>\n

“The EPA’s main focus is that any proposed trial can be undertaken safely and be properly assessed against required outcome, including process stability, emissions, uniformity and suitability of RDF.<\/p>\n

“The EPA will have regard to community feedback and questions in its assessment of any proposed trial.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Adbri says on its website that using RDF diverts 200,000 tonnes of refuse away from landfill each year. (Supplied: Adbri)<\/p>\n

Worries about health effects<\/p>\n

Largs Bay resident Melanie Carter attended a community meeting held by Adbri on its proposed trial.<\/p>\n

She said it was a big concern for the local community, which can smell vapour from the plant and occasionally see it.<\/p>\n

“This news, which we didn’t really have any preparation for and a very short time to comment on, is a huge blow to the whole idea of clean energy,” Ms Carter said.<\/p>\n

“This is not a clean fuel.”<\/p>\n

She said any health effects for local residents should be monitored.<\/p>\n

“If this is approved, then as far as I’m concerned, it has to have an independent medical report attached to any trial that’s approved,” she said.<\/p>\n

Adbri was bought by the Irish building supplies company CRH in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents living near a large cement plant in Adelaide are concerned about the owner wanting to burn more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[295109,295106,64,63,157625,99,2467,295108,26359,51113,21827,295110,4930,6082,295107],"class_list":{"0":"post-606471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-adbri","9":"tag-adelaide-brighton-cement","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-birkenhead","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-council","15":"tag-crh","16":"tag-decision","17":"tag-environment-protection-authority","18":"tag-epa","19":"tag-peter-mcgregor","20":"tag-plastic","21":"tag-port-adelaide","22":"tag-rdf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}