Cairns development: Quarry recycling project council decision due
A demolition waste facility capable of recycling more than 50,000 tonnes of material each year is about to have its fate decided – and not everyone is happy.
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A DEMOLITION waste facility capable of recycling more than 50,000 tonnes of material each year is about to have its fate decided.
Cairns Regional Council’s planning committee will vote on Wednesday on Lemura Sand Company’s push to turn a former sand quarry on Kamerunga Rd into a state-of-the art recycling operation.
The Barron facility would handle all kinds of general solid waste including tyres, general and green waste and material leftover from construction and demolition jobs.
“The applicant seeks to expand the existing waste operations to include reprocessing of waste material onsite as a means of diverting waste from and extending the life of the open pit,” a council report states.
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“This is underpinned by the applicant’s desire to proactively respond to the new Queensland Government’s waste levy; as well as improve the sustainability of their operations through utilising existing, emerging and creating new market streams for reprocessed products.”
The site was first approved as a sand mine in 1989 but has more recently operated as a waste disposal facility, backfilling the pits left from decades of extraction.
Council officers have recommended the project’s approval despite two submissions raising concerns about flood risk due to the Barron River’s wet season volatility, noise issues, odour and land rehabilitation prospects.
The report recommends conditions to “further mitigate any nuisance (noise) and landscape character through managing reinstating previously approved vegetation buffers” and “avoid any damage to people and property through resuspended material by regulating actions to be undertaken during a flood warning”.
Originally published as Cairns development: Quarry recycling project council decision due
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