Bioreactor controversy continues ahead of amalgamation
Sun 03 February 2008
Noela Burton, Communication
Controversy continues to surround a proposed bioreactor landfill dump with a local lobby group questioning the continuing push for the dump prior to Sunshine Coast Council amalgamation.
Residents living within the ‘5km Stink Zone’ of the proposed Kulangoor bioreactor landfill north of Nambour are lobbying State government and Maroochy Shire Council (MSC) against the proposed waste dump which will not receive approval until after the new Regional Council is installed in March 2008.
The Kulangoor Anti-Dump Action Group (KADAG) was formed by a concerned group of residents in the car park, in the dark, at the Big Cow at Yandina in September 2006 following Maroochy Shire Council’s announcement of the proposed bioreactor dump. "Most of the residents did not know what a ‘bioreactor landfill’ was, and were extremely concerned that the process undertaken by MSC, over a period of over two years to reach this decision was deliberately kept secret,” KADAG Chairman Peter Sheen said.
KADAG has become the voice of residents who are concerned and likely to be affected by the dump. KADAG has lobbied both the Maroochy Shire Council and the State Government to defer the dump proposal until the new regional council is installed. If the bioreactor landfill is approved it will start receiving non-recycled waste after 2011. KADAG’s view is that a regional approach is essential to meet the rationale of the Local Government Reform Bill and the best interests socially, economically and environmentally for Sunshine Coast residents.
Maroochy Shire Council’s website describes bioreactor landfills as the best technology in residual waste disposal that pump moisture through enclosed waste mass, speeding up breakdown of waste while gas is captured to generate green electricity.
Interestingly the proposed division boundaries linked to Council amalgamation add to the controversy surrounding the proposed dump site. “Maroochy councillors [Bruce Dunne and Greg Fahey] have slammed the new regional council division 9 boundaries, accusing designers of political interference”, journalist Alan Lander said in his Sunshine Coast Daily article Did bioreactor divert boundary?. The Electoral Commission Queensland’s website shows that the western boundary of Division 9 generally follows the Bruce Highway except for a distinct deviation around the proposed dump site.
A map contained in a Queensland Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional ecosystem fact sheet shows the bioreactor site covers some ‘dominant endangered’ and ‘dominant of concern’ regional ecosytems. “The diversion of waste from landfill has significant positive greenhouse gas abatement benefits, particularly through recycling of organic waste through composting, vermiculture, and bioreactor technology where the methane is captured for "green energy" generation”, the EPA website said.
KADAG will continue to lobby Maroochy Shire Council and state government to achieve specific guidelines for bioreactor landfills. The group intend to seek a meeting with and The Hon Andrew McNamara MP, the new Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation to argue the case for rejecting the proposed dump.
There are a myriad of environmental issues facing residents that KADAG has raised including the ‘5km Stink Zone’, the destruction of a productive horticultural valley, risks to wildlife corridors and three endangered species in the valley, potential risk to groundwater, aquifers and seepage into the Maroochy River (which is fed from Ferntree Creek only 3km away), noise and dust impacts, and health issues emanating from emissions from odour and flaring of methane gas.
State and local government would have the community embrace the bioreactor proposal. For the community most likely to be affected by the dump there has been little embrace.
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