Tip neighbours fear change

By Sarah Schwager
HAMPTON Park residents fear their local landfill could become a dumping ground for toxic waste.
An application by waste operator SITA Environmental Solutions to Casey Council to amend the waste permit at the Hallam Road tip has sparked concerns it could be among suburban landfills to accept low level hazardous waste.
Hampton Park Progress Association treasurer Tony O’Hara said the scrapping of plans to build an industrial waste site at Nowingi could see the Lyndhurst and Tullamarine landfills exceeding their capacity, which would mean lower levels of industrial waste had to be relocated to suburban tips.
“It’s quite a nasty situation,” Mr O’Hara said.
“If you see how close the residential properties are to the Hallam Road landfill, there are a lot of potential risks.
“We are not going to let this hap-pen. We are going to take this as far as we can.”
However, Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) regional services executive director Bruce Dawson said the situation was less serious than it was being made out to be.
He said new EPA standards for industrial waste that come into effect on 1 July were much tougher, with the introduction of three categories of waste.
Category C is the lowest level and includes low level contaminated soils and food and seafood processing waste.
Category B includes waste from manufacturing and is the only waste that can be sent to Lyndhurst and Tullamarine.
Category A is the highest hazard waste, including flammable, corrosive, explosive materials and liquids. It is not suitable for any landfills, first requiring treatment to meet Category B.
Mr Dawson said some suburban landfills could accept Category C waste but required a permit to do so. City of Casey infrastructure services director Ray Butler said SITA had sought minor changes to its planning permit and council’s planning committee would consider the application in late February or early March.
Mr Butler said residents were welcome to make submissions, which would be considered by the council before it made any decisions.
“Recent changes at Mildura have brought about an added focus to this issue,” he said.
“But council wouldn’t be looking at making any changes to the current operations at the landfill.”
If granted a planning permit through the council, SITA would then need to apply through the EPA for managing licenses and works approval.
Residents wanting to make a submission to council can contact Peter Fitchett or Bob Baggio at the City of Casey on 9705 5200.