Moolap waste shake-up

Transfer station proposed for site

THE industrial factory that processed Alcoa’s aluminium waste is set to be repurposed as a transfer station to handle Geelong’s kerbside rubbish.

A planning permit has been lodged with the City of Greater Geelong to transform the former Alreco MHM Metals factory in Moolap into a waste transfer station.

Planning documents suggest the Buckley Grove site will not need any new building works, with Green Care Mulching proposing to relocate its business to the factory from just 200m away.

“The site has been used for industry since the sheds were first constructed, with the previous use comprising a prescribed waste processing facility that processed aluminium waste from Alcoa, primarily involving the extraction of salt and aluminium remnants from the waste product,” a planning report notes.

“No new building works are proposed, nor are changes proposed to the carpark or driveway layouts, with trucks and cars having separate entry/exit points.

“The transfer station will received waste from the City of Greater Geelong rubbish collection (red bin) and will load and deliver the material to landfill by semi-trailer. The use has occurred 200m south of this site in Point Henry Road for eight years, and the business (Green Care Mulching) is proposed to relocate to this site.”

A planning report suggests all waste will be stored in existing buildings on the site, and never for longer than 24 hours.

The facility will be open from 5am to 5pm every day excluding Sundays, with an expected 60 truck movements per day — meaning a truck will collect or drop off waste every 12 minutes on average.

The report also notes that existing buildings on the site will be repaired.

In 2016, neighbours claimed that more than $300,000 of copper had been ripped out of the site by thieves and warned that asbestos roofing had collapsed throughout the building.

While Green Care Mulching is proposed to operate from the site, the owner of the land is listed as Wilbury Property Holdings.