Coffs Harbour’s waste crisis: $70k a week to truck waste to Tamworth with no fix in sight
Anger is growing at Coffs Harbour’s waste crisis. Council pays $70,000 a week to truck rubbish to Tamworth and has forked out around $1m in a legal battle over a waste contract. Meanwhile Englands Rd tip is running out of space.
Coffs Harbour
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Coffs Harbour City Council continues to pay $70,000 a week to truck rubbish to Tamworth and, according to one Councillor, has forked out around $1m in legal fees fighting a dispute over a waste contract.
Meanwhile, the Englands Road tip is filling up fast, with no apparent solution in sight.
A recent statement from Council describing the waste being trucked to Tamworth as ‘purpose-made for their particular type of landfill’ and that there is ‘no imminent change likely’ to the current arrangement, has Councillor Sally Townley dumbfounded and frustrated that so little is being done to address the problem.
“I think it’s deplorable that Council has spent the better part of a million dollars on legal fees disputing the terms of the contract, but we see little evidence of actually working with our partners to solve the problem of how we plan to manage our waste into the future,” Dr Townley said.
Coffs Harbour’s waste crisis has been escalating for years. Not only is the tip running out of space; a contract designed to divert rubbish for landfill has broken down leading to a costly legal battle.
In 2005 Coffs Harbour City Council (operating also on behalf of Nambucca Valley and Bellingen Shire Councils) entered into a 22-year contract with Biomass Solutions to build and operate an Alternate Waste Treatment plant at Englands Road.
Waste from the red bins was used to create fertiliser known as Mixed Waste Organic Output but in October 2018 the EPA stepped in and deemed the product unsafe for use leaving Council with a huge bill for transport, disposal and the associated Section 88 Landfill Levy charges.
Biomass, the contractor running the Englands Road facility is also facing a potential loss. The NSW Government stepped in to offer some assistance to cover these costs, but this was gradually phased out.
Biomass and Council have been in a legal dispute over the future of the contract ever since.
“Our landfill is reaching capacity and our priority must be figuring out what we are actually going to do about that,” Dr Townley said.
A Council representative said the Englands Road tip still retains a number of years of useful life, and its ultimate longevity is largely predicated on Council’s success with its diversion mission.
When the space available at the Englands Road landfill finally expires, there are three primary options open to Council:
- extend the life of the Englands Road tip by extending the breadth or the height of the current area
- or create another landfill somewhere within the LGA
- or create a waste transfer station and transport the collected waste to a landfill which is remote from the LGA.
Work to identify the best option continues and there is no plan in place to stop trucking waste to Tamworth.
“There is no imminent change likely to that arrangement because it is currently operating to the benefit of both Coffs Harbour City Council and Tamworth Regional Council,” a council spokesperson said.
“It is being diverted away from Englands Road, which means the Englands Road tip’s life is automatically extended, and Tamworth receives a product which is purpose-made for their particular type of landfill.”
READERS REACT
Rob Trezise - So many questions about the BioMass, plus a multitude of Council related issues. Sadly so few answers. The putrid stench is far worse than just originating at the tip. We know how far it has spread.
Paul Shoker - There is a real culture of a lack of accountability over these matters. It’s a terrible shame as a tourist city we welcome travellers from the South with the revolting stench from the tip. I feel for all those businesses and residents. If this odour was released from any other business they’d be shut down by now.
Mandy Baston - I have lived next door to this stench - disgusting - and other really foul issues of rotten materials being brought to my home area. For more than 35 years we have written letters and other information on the subject of what Biomass and Coffs Harbour City Council need to do then they allow more homes to be built within the 500 m radius. Think about it; it is only going to get worse.
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