Proposed Sunday opening for landfill site
A review of operating hours for Bega Valley Shire Council’s Central Waste Facility (CWF) at Wolumla will soon be considered through a peer-reviewed application process.
The Central Waste Facility in Wolumla
3 June 2022
A review of operating hours for Bega Valley Shire Council’s Central Waste Facility (CWF) at Wolumla will soon be considered through a peer-reviewed application process.
Council’s Project Manager overseeing the application, Kimberley Rushbrook, said the application to modify the existing development consent follows the shire’s only other landfill site in Eden reaching capacity.
“Until recently all Sunday waste collection trucks unloaded at our Eden facility. However, the landfill at this site has reached capacity, leaving the Central Waste Facility in Wolumla as the only alternative,” Ms Rushbrook said.
“Our Waste Services team continues to offer numerous recycling incentives, but population increase, bushfires and floods have placed a lot of extra pressure on landfilling in the shire.
“We now are in a situation where if a Sunday collection is needed, we have nowhere to unload the trucks until the next day.
“Keeping waste in the trucks longer than necessary presents a significant safety concern due to the risk of methane build-up in an environment where heat and the possibility of sparks are present.
“Once unloaded at a landfill site, any build-up of methane or other flammable gasses are safely managed.”
Ms Rushbrook said the proposal is to accommodate specific times of the year when a Sunday waste collection is necessary.
“Our local population spikes at peak holiday periods, which leads to increased use of our public bins and the need for a Sunday waste collection day.
“As a result of these additional pressures, we are drafting an application to modify the existing development consent, to operate the CWF on Sundays from 10am to 4pm.
“If the application is supported, we will be able to landfill waste on Sundays during those busy times when external pressures force us to add an extra collection day—such as between Christmas and Australia Day, and Easter.
“The proposal will include evaluations of potential impacts, including a noise and traffic assessment.
“We are conscious our neighbours around the CWF will want to submit their own feedback so people living close to the site have received a letter explaining our proposal and how to submit feedback.
“We are holding off making a submission until the community has had an opportunity to respond. All feedback received will be included in our final submission.
“The community will have a second opportunity to provide feedback once the application is submitted to Council’s planning team and they begin their assessment.”
No general public access to the site is permitted. For more information and to provide feedback, please email Council@begavalley.nsw.gov.au or visit the project page on Council’s website.
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