Cyclone waste site granted extension amid bitter NT government, City of Darwin dispute
Darwin's waste management standoff has taken a twist as the government extends a facility it threatened to shut. Read the details.
The temporary waste management site at Hidden Valley will stay open for at least two more weeks, despite the government threatening the council with closing the facility just more than a week ago.
The NT government did not respond to questions from the NT News about why the temporary facility was still open, even after the government publicly scorned the City of Darwin over refusing to reopen the Shoal Bay Waste Management Facility.
The extension comes nine days after Local Government Minister Steve Edgington said in a statement the temporary site at Hidden Valley would close to the public for residential green waste on December 7.
For weeks, the council has rejected widespread calls to reopen the facility at Shoal Bay, explaining it was “not designed” to handle a category three cyclone.
Cyclone Fina was a category 3 system when it passed Darwin, but the winds felt in Darwin were the equivalent of a category 1.
It is estimated the total potential emergency green waste generated across the region could be as high as 170,000 tonnes, according to the council.
The council’s decision to not reopen the Shoal Bay facility was met with criticism from some members of the NT government, including Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro.
Last week, however, the City of Darwin said it had worked “collaboratively” with the NT government to extend the opening of the Hidden Valley site until December 21.
In its first week of operation, the Hidden Valley site received about 10,000 light vehicle entries, about 1900 truck entries and a peak day of 1800 vehicles recorded on November 29.
These vehicle movements translate to about 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of green waste being received across a one-week period.
While residential green waste volumes are expected to continue easing over the coming weeks, City of Darwin said clearing operations across 221 parks and reserves would continue for months.
With the Hidden Valley site extension until December 21, the council said it was now “comfortable” to reopen Shoal Bay for green waste from December 22.
Darwin Lord Mayor Peter Styles said the scale of debris created by Cyclone Fina was “unlike anything we’ve seen in many years”.
He thanked the government for extending the site and acknowledged “there is still a requirement to manage emergency green waste.”
He added: “We are taking responsible steps to ensure Shoal Bay remains operational and resilient throughout this recovery period.”
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Originally published as Cyclone waste site granted extension amid bitter NT government, City of Darwin dispute
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