City’s trash becomes a burning question for rural towns
Will the country of Australia turn into a city dump?
That’s the question at the center of an investigation into the proposed development of incinerators in rural NSW after the state government banned the same facilities in Sydney.
While the capital’s waste storage capacity is expected to be exhausted by 2030, waste-to-energy facilities that burn garbage to produce heat, steam and electricity are touted as a sustainable solution.
Dedicated to Parkes in central west NSW, the facility will process 732,000 tonnes of Sydney rubbish a year and produce enough energy to power 100,000 homes.
More than 350,000 tonnes of waste will be processed annually at a facility in Tarago, 70 km from the country’s capital.
Developers of each project say their technology is state-of-the-art, minimizes emissions and prioritizes human and environmental health.
While similar facilities operate in Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Singapore, Vienna and China, Australia’s first factory in Western Australia will divert 460,000 tonnes of rubbish to produce 38 megawatts of energy each year.
But both NSW communities have launched private campaigns in opposition, raising alarm over potential pollution, soil toxins and high water use.
The inquiry received 1,400 written submissions and the hearing will be held in Parkes on Tuesday.
Farmers worry about how incinerators will affect their crops, small business owners worry they will deter visitors, and young people fear worsening climate change.
A submission from the Parkes Clean Future Alliance, a major community organization opposing the plant, suggested rural communities were being treated as “dumping ground for the city’s environmental burdens”.
Parkes is expected to undertake waste-to-energy operations despite the government amending planning laws to ban the sites across Sydney in 2022, he said.
“Applying the precautionary principle to protect large populations while designating a few regional towns as carrying the same risks is unfair and indefensible,” the group said in its presentation.
“If (energy from waste) is so unsafe that it should be banned for some NSW residents, it should be banned for everyone.”
Parkes mayor Neil Westcott said the proposed development had caused concern across the area, with little effort from the government or developers to create social licence.
“Fairness must prevail, regional communities such as Parkes should not be expected to bear the burden of metropolitan waste without assurance of safety, proportionate support, safeguards and benefits,” Mr Westcott wrote.
Councils, community groups, Indigenous organizations and farmers will testify at the Parkes hearing.
