Melton council has slammed a draft strategy that identifies the western suburbs as best placed to house Melbourne’s future landfill waste, citing traffic, noise, odour and litter concerns.
In its submission to the draft Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan, council stated its community did not want the Ravenhall landfill to be “turned into the primary disposal location for all of Melbourne’s waste”.
Community groups and residents are concerned landfills across the west will take in rubbish from across metropolitan Melbourne, in lieu of facilities in the south-east.
The draft plan cites the Ravenhall landfill as having good transport connections, and if approval was not given for the tip to expand its operations, “Melbourne [was] at risk of having inadequate landfill capacity to manage waste for which there is no current resource recovery alternative”.
But Melton council is concerned about the draft plan’s reliance on the west, and specifically Ravenhall, as being one of the most important sites.
“The City of Melton is a growth area and whilst a comprehensive road network is being planned for, the timing on much of it is not yet known,” council’s submission states.
“Has this, and future traffic already proposed to be generated as part of growth within the municipality been considered and if so, what transport infrastructure network upgrades are required to support the transportation of waste from the east to the west?
Council officers, in their submission, said they would be very concerned if a “thorough and detailed analysis had not been prepared prior to planning for the west to take a significant proportion of Melbourne’s waste”.
The draft plan, up for public comment until late last year, aims to respond to the needs of metropolitan Melbourne’s rapidly growing population and waste over the next decade.
It identified 10 “priority actions” to improve recycling rates, reduce waste to landfill and plan for Melbourne’s future sustainability.
The final plan will be submitted to the Environment, Climate Change and Water Minister for approval next month.
