Revealed: Coffs Harbour council’s plan to shift its rubbish to Nambucca, Clarence

Coffs Harbour plans to offload its garbage onto its Clarence and Nambucca neighbours to help solve its landfill crisis – but it will be anything but plain sailing. Here’s why.

Coffs Harbour’s Englands Rd waste facility. Picture: Trevor Veale / Coffs Coast Advocate

City of Coffs Harbour wants to broker a deal with neighbouring councils Clarence and Nambucca to take the city’s red bin waste as the Englands Rd landfill nears capacity.

Coffs hopes the two small shires will each accept up to 15,000 tonnes of waste per annum for the next four years.

The city has processed the yellow and green bin waste for Bellingen and Nambucca shires since 2007 and will continue to do so until the end of the current waste contract in 2027.

Coffs Sustainable Infrastructure director Andrew Beswick said: “Our neighbouring local government areas all have landfill sites that can accommodate residual red bin waste for decades to come.”

“In the meantime, our own waste facility is near capacity and we are having red bin waste trucked three times per day, six days per week to Queensland,” he said.

City of Coffs Harbour Sustainable Infrastructure director Andrew Beswick and Mayor Paul Amos. Picture: Chris Knight

Neither Nambucca Valley nor Clarence have received a formal request from Coffs, and on that basis the Grafton-based council has declined to comment on the proposal.

But Nambucca mayor Rhonda Hoban said she is personally far from sold on the suggested arrangement, noting Coffs had been aware of the “limited lifetime” of the Englands Rd tip since the early 2000s.

All three councils were “left in the lurch” when the Environment Protection Authority ruled in 2018 that organic waste could no longer be separated from the red bin collection and used as compost as it was too contaminated by plastics, Ms Hoban said.

Aerial image of the recently completed Landfill Cell 4C at Grafton Regional Landfill. The impervious new cell includes a compacted one-metre thick clay liner, covered with 2mm thick high-density Polyethylene liner and 30mm leachate drainage and collection system. Picture: Clarence Valley Council

Nambucca already accepts Bellingen council’s red bin waste as well as its own, and at current volumes the Link Rd landfill has about 35 years of life left.

“The Coffs proposal is for a contract through to 2027, but I’d imagine that there would be an expectation it would continue beyond that because finding a new landfill site is extremely difficult and you really need to be doing this 15 years in advance,” Ms Hoban said.

While Coffs has indicated it would pay Clarence and Nambucca councils to take its red bin waste, Ms Hoban said the true costs of entering into any such arrangement would be much higher than simple gate fees.

Nambucca Mayor Rhonda Hoban.

“Landfills are extremely expensive. As well as the capital works you have the ongoing costs of monitoring for leachate and any other potential environmental impacts,” she said.

“Our ratepayers already pay some of the highest waste charges in the state.

“While we do like to keep a good working relationship with neighbouring councils I think we need to know the ins and outs of a duck’s nuts on this.”

Ms Hoban said it was important for all of the local councils to fast-track planning on a regional waste solution.

Mr Beswick said Coffs was open to a regional approach, but had pressing challenges with its Englands Rd site.

“We’re all interested in discussions over a regional plan for waste management after 2027, but the city’s immediate issue is the disposal of its red bin residual waste for the next four years,” he said.