This idea stinks

By Bridget Brady
RESIDENTS say the idea of a compost plant in the middle of suburbia stinks to high heaven.
Community members said odours from the Hallam Road tip site are bad enough, and plans to build a compost plant alongside it would be double trouble.
SITA Environmental Solutions has an application to build a compost plant worth about $70 million to $80 million at the site, which would be the first of its kind in Victoria.
The project is now subject to Environment Protection Authority (EPA) approval. SITA said it had the experience and expertise to control the facility.
More than 100 residents attended a meeting the EPA held in Hampton Park last week, and Cranbourne resident David Banner said few people had confidence the SITA plant would be problem-free.
“No matter what they tell you about world’s best practice, if you can’t control what you’ve already got we have no faith in you,” Mr Banner said. “There was no-one there (at the meeting) saying it’s wonderful, let’s do it.”
Mr Banner said he was pleased the EPA held the conference to hear submissions from residents. He said there would still be many residents who might not be aware of the proposal and hoped the community campaign that was gaining momentum would not be “too little too late”.
Hampton Park Progress Association member Tony O’Hara said the main angst for residents was the buffer zone and concern of further smell.
“I don’t have a problem with the technology, but it does not belong in the middle of suburbia. It’s not the right place,” Mr O’Hara said. “It won’t be the disaster the same as Brookland Greens, but if the air discharged from the plants are not clean enough it will have an impact on the residents’ health and well-being and therefore it would be a problem for everyone.”
But SITA general manager of marketing and strategy Simon Lee said the facility was especially designed for the site and took into account a proposed development a few hundred metres away.
“We understand their concerns because this is new. It is going to be the largest facility of its type in Australia and so we can understand the natural concerns the local residents have,” Mr Lee said.
The EPA has committed to hosting another community meeting before a decision is made, and said it would not be appropriate to comment on the proposed compost plant before then.