A new recycling factory in Sydney will turn a quarter of a million tonnes of garbage into fuel every year, replacing 100,000 tonnes of coal power and taking the equivalent of 20,000 cars off the road.

The facility in Wetherill Park, in Sydney’s west, co-owned by waste companies Cleanaway and ResourceCo, will turn non-recyclable waste into a fuel.

The facility will convert around 250,000 tonnes of non-recyclable garbage into fuel. Credit:Angela Wylie

The plant will create the fuel from about 50,000 truckloads of garbage annually.

It works by taking dry waste such as plastic, dirty paper and cardboard, and non-recyclable wood and turning it into small solid material - known as processed engineered fuel (PEF) - that can be burnt for power.