A State Parliament inquiry has been launched into waste-to-energy incinerators, with the support of Government MPs.
Meanwhile during a debate on the issue, Upper House MPs found common ground against a proposed waste transfer station in Hampton Park to feed a WTE plant in Maryvale.
The inquiry proposed by Legalise Cannabis Party will look at issues including the impact of waste-to-energy on residents and roads, as well as alternative technologies.
South East Metropolitan MP Rachel Payne noted the State Government was by far the most enthusiastic adopter of WTE in the country.
In Victoria, 11 licences have been issued so far, including a 100,000-tonne a year incinerator in Dandenong South.
“We are very pleased to see this Inquiry get up.
“Future generations should have confidence that the waste decisions we are making today are safe and won’t have devastating consequences on them and their future – we cannot roll the dice on our health and the environment.”
During the debate, Payne said “communities should not be made to live next to these facilities and deal with hundreds of trucks full of waste barrelling down their local roads at all hours of the day”.
“It is a falsehood to say that waste to energy is part of the circular economy when this process creates toxic waste.”
Decades-long contracts between WTE project operators and councils that locked in guaranteed minimum supplies of waste should be examined, she said.
“All this does is incentivize waste generation.
“How are we meant to trust that recycling and organic waste will not just be sent to be burnt at these waste-to-energy incinerations?”
Payne told Parliament about Hampton Park residents fighting against a waste transfer station to “package up rubbish from nine councils and ship it off to a waste-to-energy plant in Maryvale”.
She said the proposed operator Veolia had already attracted complaints and litigation in its running of the adjoining Hampton Park landfill.
“It is no wonder that these communities have little trust that the operators of waste-to-energy facilities will not fall victim to mismanagement and fail to responsibly deal with toxic by-products.”
Payne said it was “telling” that Climate Action Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen opposed WTE in their own electorates.
“If it is OK to truck in rubbish from all over Melbourne to Dandenong or Sunbury and burn it, it is OK to do so where they live and work.”
In support of the inquiry, Labor South-Eastern Metropolitan MP Michael Galea said he backed Environment Protection Authority’s recent rejection of the Hampton Park waste transfer station.
“That matter is still before VCAT, and we are all hoping for the very best outcome.
“What is certainly clear is that … the EPA has sent a very strong message about the health risks of this particular proposal.”
Galea described WTE as a “wicked problem”.
“It is not quite so simple as saying that we can just burn everything, but it is also not so simple as saying that we cannot do anything at all – because for too much waste, the alternative is landfill.
“Landfill contributes more (carbon dioxide) than waste to energy.
“The thing that troubles me as well … we are seeing that Victoria’s landfill systems are approaching capacity at a rate far quicker than had been forecast.”
Along with Coalition colleagues, Liberal MP Ann-Marie Hermans voted against the inquiry – but she also voiced health concerns about the Hampton Park proposal.
“We are not against the concept of turning waste into energy, because we think the idea and the concept of that is good.
“The location is incredibly key, and the reason for that is to do with health.
“Toxins are affecting millions and millions of people in residential areas, and it just simply cannot happen here in Hampton Park.
“You can literally see across (residents’) backyard where this facility is. It really is behind their fence – and it is seen as inappropriate, unfair and unacceptable.”
In response, Galea said he was disappointed Coalition MPs didn’t back the inquiry.
“I do think that if you are serious … about taking a proper look at Hampton Park (and) waste to energy as a whole, you would support this inquiry.”
Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia Shire councils have signed up with six other councils to offload 95 per cent of household waste to the waste-to-energy incinerator in Maryvale for the next 25 years.
It is in response to Hampton Park landfill, currently used by many South East councils, nearing the end of life.
The nearest alternative tips are further away across Melbourne.
