Tip plan may be dumped
Councillors warned of odour, water concerns at Stonehaven site
“It has been identified that there is potential for odour impacts from the green waste composting on-site to impact nearby sensitive uses.”
COUNCILLORS will today consider rejecting a controversial proposal to build a $40 million waste facility off the Hamilton Highway.
More than two years after a planning application was made, Golden Plains Shire officers recommend the council refuse the massive operation at Stonehaven, west of Geelong.
They have cited potential impacts on groundwater resources and the amenity of the area through odour as key reasons to reject the project.
The site, which already hosts a quarry, is proposed to be used for a transfer station, green waste processing and composting and a landfill.
Geelong Resource Recovery Facility Pty Ltd said it would take 100,000 tonnes of waste from residential kerbsides and 36,000 tonnes of green waste annually.
The application was first lodged in August 2015, with the council engaging lawyers to review it before sending it to public consultation.
A total of 87 objections were received, including two peti- tions. A facilitated information session was followed by both council and independent assessments, before the applicant supplied further details two months ago.
A report by council’s town planner, Leigh Page, said contamination of the groundwater table, leaking leachate and contamination of waterways had regularly been raised by objectors.
“It has been identified that there is potential for odour impacts from the green waste composting on-site to impact nearby sensitive uses,” he said.
“Council should not support this proposal until this issue is resolved.”
About 60 per cent of Gold- en Plains’ kerbside waste is transported to a Werribee landfill.
Geelong Resource Recovery Facility Pty Ltd believes its complex could service the Barwon South West and Grampians Central West regions.
However the Grampians Central Waste waste authority said there was no “demonstrated need for additional landfills” and did not intend to schedule any new or expanded facilities.