Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales Environment Minister, unveiled the state’s first waste infrastructure and circular economy plan during a national waste conference in Coffs Harbour. The program aims to address the harmful, urgent waste emergency occurring in New South Wales. In fact, future forecasts predict that over half of landfill sites may be at capacity in just five years.
The plan outlines alarming measures to increase the number of landfill sites across Greater Sydney. Second, it places priority on starting up critical processing infrastructure for green waste and food scraps. The state is rapidly approaching a waste management crisis. Sharpe emphasized the importance of moving them expeditiously to avoid severe and irreversible impacts.
Urgent Need for Infrastructure
Sharpe’s announcement comes at a time when approximately 280 licensed landfills in New South Wales accept food and organic waste. The bad news is that most of the big landfills are filling up fast. “Most of the big landfills in NSW that accept food waste are almost full,” noted Aaron Hudson, a waste management expert.
The plan would help to jumpstart projects that can offer new waste disposal solutions other than incineration. If we continue to dispose of waste at this rate, by 2030 Sydney’s red bins may not be collected. This concern extends beyond Sydney to much of the rest of regional New South Wales. If we fail to stop this, waste generated in Sydney may go to regional landfill, or be shipped interstate. This would increase the cost of transportation to a staggering $23 billion.
Mike Ritchie, a seasoned professional with over 25 years in the waste and environment sector, stressed the need for local action. So it’s high time that Sydney dealt with Sydney’s waste,” he continued. Additionally, he acknowledged that using regional New South Wales as a dumping ground for the waste we don’t want is not an acceptable strategy.
Challenges Ahead
The route to hundreds of new processing facilities for waste is one paved with hurdles. Gayle Sloan, Chief Executive of the Waste Management Resource Recovery Association of Australia, pointed out the inefficiencies in the current approval processes. It’s more expedient to get a mine approved than it is a waste facility right now,” she added.
Sloan called for swift measures. He argued that we do not want to wait on the infrastructure in order to be up and running at least five years down the road. The timeline for establishing new facilities capable of processing food waste is concerning, as Hudson indicated: “You’re looking at least five to eight years before you get those facilities up to deal with this transfer of food waste.”
Tony Chappel, new chief of the state’s environment regulator, pointed to an opportunity among the tragedy and difficulty. In fact, he explained that organic processing could double or triple the landfill space we have on hand. He described that approximately 40 percent of the typical red bin’s waste can now be handled with FOGO. This program aims to divert organic waste from landfills by managing food and garden organics.
A Collective Call to Action
The seriousness of the crisis has inspired stakeholders across the entire industry to urge immediate, aggressive government intervention. Mike Ritchie emphasized that the industry has been advocating for serious attention towards waste processing and disposal for over a decade.
“For over ten years now, we’ve been telling government that waste processing and disposal need to be a priority,” he said. Newly aligned government officials, industry professionals, and environmental advocates are all coming together. They call on the government to urgently develop a five-point plan to address New South Wales’ looming waste crisis.
