Tip project not glamourous, but important
The $5.5 million rehabilitation of the Trafalgar tip may not have been a “glamourous project” but it was an “important project, according to design consultant Mark Kellar.
Environmental concerns and increasing costs of transporting leachate from the site forced Baw Baw Shire to close the tip and invest in a major rehabilitation of the site.
The site operated for waste disposal between 1964 and 2011 and during that period accepted a range of waste products including domestic garbage and commercial waste.
Over that time, about 500,000 tonnes of waste is estimated to have been landfilled at the 4.5 hectare property.
At the site on Friday, Mark Kellar of GHD consultants who designed the cap construction and gas extraction system, said preventing contamination from the site after closure of the tip was a high priority.
“It’s not a glamourous project and it’s not a high profile project but it is a very important project.
He said contamination of surface water, contamination running into creeks and waterways and uncontrolled odour were all issues that had potential to impact on the community.
“There are many sites that haven’t been rehabilitated like this and they still have impacts on the community.
Mr Kellar said the shire had been “very responsible” in its attitude to rehabilitating the site.
Like many landfills of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the Trafalgar landfill was not lined. Typical of the design of landfills 50 years ago, the Trafalgar tip was a hole in the ground where the waste was tipped.
It was a cheap option until leachate – a mix of rainwater and wastewater – began to leak from the site, with potential to contaminate local waterways.
Community assets director Phil Cantillon said council had transported 14 million litres of leachate every year from the site at a cost of $1.4 million each year.
On a site surrounded by trees and environmentally sensitive, constant removal of leachate was not environmentally sound or financially viable, Mr Cantillon said.
“There were a lot of complex issues that had to be dealt with. We had very significant and complex guidelines on how we had to rehabilitate the site. “Now we are looking at the finished product. Contractors worked for more than 12 months capping the site, first with a 300mm layer of compacted clay, then a 600mm layer of clay, an 800mm of subsoil mixed with clay and finally a 200mm layer of topsoil.
Some leachate will continue to collect at the bottom of the landfill for some time, but that will be pumped out and treated.
The gas extraction facility will extract methane gas from the site and channel it to a central flame.
“The gas extraction facility may not look like Crown Casino but there is a heck of a lot of innovation involved in this project.
“It’s a great outcome and a project to be very proud of,” Mr Cantillon said.
Mayor Joe Gauci said the project was imposed on council to ensure it was environmentally compliant and would not impact on the community.
“It was a burden that was left to the shire to sort out. $5.5 million is not a little amount of money, especially for us where every cent counts, but it is a great outcome for us all,” he said.
Council will continue to maintain and monitor the site for the next 30 years to ensure it continued to comply with Environment Protection Authority regulations.
The site will continue to operate as the Trafalgar transfer station.