NSW Labor’s bid to halt incinerator plans
Western Sydney MPs are fired up over plans for incinerators to be built near homes, calling for a moratorium to stop bids for waste to energy facilities.
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A western Sydney MP is set to stoke the fire of the incinerator debate as new plans for a waste to energy facility is raised in Eastern Creek.
Campbelltown state Labor MP Greg Warren is drawing up battlelines to prevent the approval of energy from waste facilities across the state in a moratorium on new proposals.
Mr Warren will call for the NSW Government to install a moratorium on incinerator proposals near residential precincts until health an pollution effects are “properly investigated”.
The battle cry to prevent the approval of waste to energy facilities comes after waste giant, Cleanaway, is expected to release the environmental impact statement for its $00 million proposal at Eastern Creek.
“The government should not be approving massive incinerators within a stone’s throw of residential areas,” Mr Warren told NewsLocal.
“The current approval system for these proposed incinerators is completely outdated and inadequate, and the government should not allow any incinerators to be approved until that system is reviewed and updated to world-best standards.”
Mr Warren said the opposition was demanding an immediate review of rules and regulations surrounding the approval of incinerators, “and a moratorium on any new incinerators until then”.
“The community must be given the opportunity for full, genuine input on any proposed incinerator – not being circumvented by the State Significant Development process,” he said.
A Cleanaway spokesman said the company will follow the “strictest” environmental standards as it progresses its plans with the State Government.
Cleanaway’s $500 million Western Sydney Energy and Resource Recovery Centre (WSERRC) on Wallgrove Rd would burn enough household waste into enough energy to power 65,000 homes in western Sydney, aiming to cut landfill volumes by 95 per cent.
State Planning Minister, Rob Stokes, said the recycling industry was an important job provider for NSW.
“We have a moral duty to reuse our waste locally and not just export these challenges overseas,” he said. “Of course we insist on the highest environmental standards, which if not met mean projects will be refused.
“In fact we’ve recently commissioned the chief scientist to see if our world-leading air quality standards can be made even stronger.”