A Ravenhall landfill could operate for another 40 years if Melton council approves Boral’s plans to expand operations.
Touring the landfill last Wednesday morning, Boral business manager Richard McCarthy said the facility, which services up to 600 trucks a day, could store industrial waste for only another 10 years at the most if the planning application was rejected.
Boral’s application, which seeks to extend its operations by 179,000,000 cubic metres, would, if approved, create one of the biggest garbage dumps in Australia.
Melton council is expected to vote on the application next month.
“Stage three to six [already approved] would hold waste for another five to 10 years,” Mr McCarthy said.
“Stage two [currently in use] has about two years left in it … the tip is not actually expanding in size; it’s simply opening up a different area that we own.
“If it’s knocked back, we’ll consider our options, VCAT [Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal] being one of them.”
As reported by the Weekly, the Environment Protection Authority received nearly 600 complaints from Brimbank and Melton residents about odours coming from the tip in February and March.
One employee who has worked at the site for the past three and a half years said the smell – created by fresh and green waste, landfill gas and leachate – had not worsened in recent times.
“Gas escaping costs us money, so we’re just as keen to see it not get out,” the employee said.
As theWeekly drove through stage one in the north-west section of the site – which was a landfill until 2001 and is now covered in grass and weeds – the adjacent Pinegro composting facility produced a reasonably strong smell. It was the only area producing a strong odour when we toured the facility.
Mr McCarthy said stage two could be opened for community use once it was filled and sealed.
“It could become public open space,” he said. “It could involve people coming up to get a view of the city, or bike trails. Some golf courses and sports fields have been built on landfills.”
