Palerang Council Waste Management Strategy 2005-2025
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FINAL REPORT Palerang Council Waste Management Strategy 2005-2025 Prepared for Palerang Council 11 Farrer Place, Queanbeyan, NSW, 2620 30 June 2005 43167240/WASTE STRATEGY.DOC ADOPTED BY PALERANG COUNCIL ON 30TH JUNE 2005 Project Manager: URS Australia Pty Ltd Level 3, 116 Miller Street North Sydney, NSW 2060 Australia Tel: 61 2 8925 5500 …………………………… Fax: 61 2 8925 5555 Chani Lokuge Associate Civil/Environmental Engineer Project Director: Einion Thomas Principal Solid Waste Management and Resource Recovery Practice Date: 30 June 2005 Reference: Reporting\Waste Strategy.doc Status: Final J:\JOBS\43167240\REPORTING\FINAL REPORT\WASTE STRATEGY.DOC\14-JAN-09 Contents Executive Summary-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ES-1 1 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-1 1.1 Palerang Council 1-1 1.2 Objectives of the Waste Strategy 1-1 1.3 Current Waste Management Practices 1-2 1.4 Structure of the Waste Strategy Report 1-2 2 Development of the Strategy-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2-1 2.1 Review of information 2-1 2.2 Assessment of Current Landfills 2-1 2.3 Development and Comparison of Options 2-1 2.4 Development of Council-wide Strategy 2-2 2.5 Public Consultation 2-2 3 Key Planning Legislation and Guidelines in NSW --------------------------------------------- 3-1 3.1 Waste Management related Legislation and Guidelines 3-1 3.1.1 Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (WARR) Strategy 3-1 3.1.2 Environmental Guidelines: Solid Waste Landfills 3-3 3.1.3 State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) 48 – Major Putrescible Landfill Sites 3-4 3.2 Local Government Act 1993 3-5 3.3 Environmental Planning Legislation 3-5 3.3.1 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 3-5 3.3.2 Heritage Act 1977 3-6 3.3.3 National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 3-6 3.3.4 Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1993 3-7 3.3.5 Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 3-7 3.3.6 Rivers and Foreshores Improvement Act 1948 3-7 3.3.7 Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997 3-8 3.3.8 Roads Act 1993 3-8 3.3.9 Water Act 1912 and the Water Management Act 2000 3-8 3.3.10 State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) 55 – Remediation of Land 3-9 4 Existing Landfill Assessment------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4-1 4.1 Introduction 4-1 4.2 Macs Reef Landfill 4-3 4.2.1 General 4-3 4.2.2 Estimated Landfill Life 4-3 4.2.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-3 4.2.4 Future Options Macs Reef 4-5 4.3 Bungendore Landfill 4-6 4.3.1 General 4-6 4.3.2 Landfill Life 4-6 4.3.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-6 4.3.4 Future Options Bungendore 4-8 J:\JOBS\43167240\REPORTING\FINAL REPORT\WASTE STRATEGY.DOC\14-JAN-09 i Contents 4.4 Collector Landfill 4-9 4.4.1 General 4-9 4.4.2 Landfill Life 4-9 4.4.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-9 4.4.4 Future Options Collector 4-11 4.5 Captains Flat Landfill 4-12 4.5.1 General 4-12 4.5.2 Landfill Life 4-12 4.5.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-12 4.5.4 Future Options Captains Flat 4-16 4.6 Braidwood Landfill 4-17 4.6.1 General 4-17 4.6.2 Landfill Life 4-17 4.6.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-17 4.6.4 Future Options Braidwood 4-19 4.7 Araluen Landfill 4-20 4.7.1 General 4-20 4.7.2 Landfill life 4-20 4.7.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-20 4.7.4 Future Options Araluen 4-22 4.8 Majors Creek Landfill 4-23 4.8.1 General 4-23 4.8.2 Landfill Life 4-23 4.8.3 Key Environmental and Engineering Issues 4-23 4.8.4 Future Options Majors Creek 4-26 4.9 Nerriga Landfill 4-27 4.9.1 General 4-27 4.9.2 Landfill Life 4-27 4.9.3 Key Engineering and Environmental Issues 4-28 4.9.4 Future options Nerriga 4-29 4.10 Summary of Options 4-30 5 Council Wide Waste Strategy------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5-1 5.1 Introduction 5-1 5.2 Year 1: 2005/2006 5-2 5.3 Year 2: 2006/2007 5-4 5.4 Year 3 (2007/2008) 5-5 5.5 Year 4 (2008/2009) 5-6 5.6 Years 5 (2009/2010) and Year 6 (2010/2011) 5-8 5.7 Years 7 (2011/2012) and Year 8 (2012/2013) 5-9 5.8 Years 9 (2013/2014) through to Year 16 (2020/2021) 5-10 5.9 Year 17 (2021/2022) 5-12 5.10 Year 18 (2022/2023) through to Year 20 (2024/2025) 5-13 5.11 Summary of Costing 5-14 5.11.1 New Capital and Operating Costs 5-14 5.11.2 Operating costs 5-15 6 Waste Strategy Funding -------------------------------------------------------------------------------6-16 6.1 Council Wide Waste Charge 6-16 6.2 User Pays Model 6-17 J:\JOBS\43167240\REPORTING\FINAL REPORT\WASTE STRATEGY.DOC\14-JAN-09 ii Contents 7 Limitations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7-1 8 References -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8-1 J:\JOBS\43167240\REPORTING\FINAL REPORT\WASTE STRATEGY.DOC\14-JAN-09 iii Executive Summary This report outlines a 20-year waste strategy (from 2005/06 to 2024/25) for Palerang Council, which provides Council with a clear vision on the key infrastructure elements it will need to provide the community to manage their waste in a sustainable manner. The strategy has been developed based on meeting the communities future waste management requirements taking into consideration status of current infrastructure, environmental, financial and social impacts. The strategy was prepared by reviewing existing information provided by Council, assessing the individual existing waste management infrastructure in particular the landfills, and comparing options to develop a preferred Council wide integrated waste management strategy. This strategy outlines measures such as extending kerbside recycling, to reduce the amount of waste currently going to landfill in the Palerang Council area in line with the aims of the NSW Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (WARR) strategy. A detailed Resource Recovery Strategy will be prepared by Council next year outlining further initiatives, inline with the framework provided in this report, to reduce waste going to landfill. ES1.1 Assessment of Individual Landfills Site visits were carried out in April to each of the landfills currently in operation with the Council area (Macs Reef, Bungendore, Collector, Captains Flat, Araluen, Majors Creek and Nerriga). The site visits were used to estimate the landfill life remaining in each of the landfills based on the number of properties within each landfill catchment and the estimated remaining landfill volume. The site visits were also used to identify key environmental and engineering issues associated with the operation of the landfills. Key issues identified at several of the existing landfills included: x Uncovered waste: Due to a shortage of cover material on the site, waste is kept uncovered for long periods (greater than 2 weeks). This results in several environmental issues including windblown litter, feral animals, odour and increased leachate production. x Batter slopes are poorly covered and not rehabilitated resulting in high erosion of cover material and waste into drainage paths. x Unlined landfill overlying sandy soils, with no leachate collection system or monitoring system in place to identify groundwater or surface water contamination; x Poor signage on sites identifying where to place particular wastes and recyclables leading to waste being mixed with recyclables It is recommended that Council implement a staged monitoring plan at all its landfill to identify any water pollution, which may be occurring. The monitoring will provide good information on key areas to be rehabilitated as part of the closure plans for the operating sites and identify any problems with closed sites. Also efforts should be made by the operators at each of the sites to minimise the size of the tipping face used, thereby reducing the area needed to be covered and consequently potential for windblown litter and other environmental issues such as feral animals, and increased leachate production, which were observed at all the landfills. J:\JOBS\43167240\REPORTING\FINAL REPORT\WASTE STRATEGY.DOC\14-JAN-09 ES-1 Executive Summary Future options for management of waste in the individual catchments were compared based on the assessment carried out. A comparison of each of the options taking into consideration capital and operating costs, environmental and social criteria was carried out. These future options however only considered the individual landfill waste catchments and not the overall council wide waste management issues. Section 5 of the strategy draws upon the individual assessments carried out, to outline an integrated waste management strategy for the entire Council area. A summary of the preferred options for each of the individual landfill catchments is provided below. Landfill Catchment Preferred option from an individual catchment basis Macs Reef Option (2) Closure in approximately 2 years with residents using Bungendore landfill. Bungendore Option (3) Closure in approximately 3 years with construction of a transfer station Collector Option (3) Closure in approximately 12 years with construction of a transfer station Captains Flat Option (2) Immediate closure and rehabilitation with construction of a transfer station. Braidwood Option (3) Closure and rehabilitation in approximately 10 years with construction of a transfer station to take waste to a major landfill outside Council area such as Woodlawn. Araluen Option (3) Closure and rehabilitation in approximately 8 years with construction of a transfer station to take waste to a major landfill outside Council area.