A couple of sugar cane farmers are pioneers in recycling sewage waste using it for irrigation and soil conditioner purposes. Paid by their Regional Council to take away all of the town’s sewage, they are able to harvest 400 megalitres of water a year from the neighbouring sewage treatment plant.
Bundaberg sugar cane farmers Graham and Kate Campbell are pioneers in recycling sewage waste for use in irrigation and as a soil conditioner. Bundaberg Regional Council pays their company, Camreay Holdings, to take away all of the town’s sewage. This is an innovative step for a local council, as many other councils in Australia dump their sewage waste.
Kate and Graham are able to harvest 400 megalitres of water a year from the neighbouring sewage treatment plant. The couple have been using recycled effluent water for 20 years, and along the way have developed new methods and equipment. For the past seven years the pair has also been processing biosolids – treated sewage sludge – and using it as a soil conditioner and as a base for compost.
Their research and development activities qualify them for the Australian Government’s R&D Tax Offset, providing an annual tax offset of 30% of eligible research and development deductions.
R&T Tax concession program
“Over the years we have investigated various state and federal government grants with no success, but we got in contact with our local AusIndustry regional manager,” Kate said. “He advised that the R&D Tax Concession was the most suitable program for us. “It doesn’t provide us with a huge windfall, but it does provide a much-needed refund and it is a very simple program to access. “We do our research and development planning at the beginning of the year and simply keep track of our expenses. “At tax time, we give all of our costing to our tax agent, and two to three weeks after our application, we receive a bulk sum for our work during the year.”
The R&D Tax Offset has enabled Camreay Holdings to experiment with land applications and cropping trials, as well as modify a harvester so it can be used for compost making. The company has also developed a bagging plant for compost. They use the water on their sugar cane and other crops such as maize. The compost is made by mixing sugar cane with biosolids. This is proving to be a popular product with farmers and a growing number of home and landscape gardeners and so far they are selling as much as they are able to produce.
Green Awards
Camreay’s compost is tested routinely by the Soil Foodweb Institute in Lismore. Bundaberg Regional Council and Camreay Holdings won the Water Industry Operators Association prize for beneficial reuse of biosolids in 2007. Camreay Holdings has also won the Bundaberg Cane Productivity Innovators Award, and the Burnett Shire Council special achievements award.
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R&D Tax Offset helps sewage recycling pioneers
