Bindaree Beef beats the carbon tax

When Tony Windsor supported the introduction of the carbon tax scheme, Bindaree Beef was the only company in his New England electorate that was to be affected. Now, with the help of a government grant of nearly $23 million and at an overall cost of $46 million, the family-owned company is slashing its carbon emissions and operating costs and eliminating its carbon tax liability.

In 2011-12, Bindaree’s total taxable carbon emissions were listed at 28,345 tonnes - which is above the government’s 25,000-tonne direct carbon tax threshold. The company could have made some cheap changes and just snuck in under the threshold, but instead the owners, the McDonald family, spent two years and up to $2 million researching and developing a much more significant approach that will reduce the company’s carbon emissions by a staggering 95.58%.

An on-site pilot plant has established that the proposed system is viable and now Bindaree is installing a more energy-efficient rendering plant and directing all of its organic waste through a digester. The company will cut its electricity consumption by up to 50% by using the biogas from the digester to generate clean energy. This will allow Bindaree to replace a coal-fired boiler and reduce its coal consumption by 7200 tonnes each year.

The abattoir currently processes around 1100 head per day and these changes will reduce the utility cost of processing each head of cattle by more than one third.

At the same time, carbon emissions will be cut by 95.58% and the company will not be liable to pay any carbon tax.

The digester will also produce high-quality recycled water for irrigation and organic fertiliser for sale.

It is anticipated that the project will deliver annual operating cost savings of $2.44 million to the business and projected income from fertiliser sales of $1.8 million. As an added benefit, the fertiliser sales will create 10 new jobs.