C cell misses out on RDA funding

Southern Waste Solutions (SWS) has expressed disappointment at being unable to secure funding from Round Four of the Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF) program for the proposed C cell at the Copping Landfill facility.

SWS CEO Christine Bell said while the announcement was disappointing, it would not stop the project from proceeding.

“If we are serious about maintaining Tasmania’s clean, green reputation and environmental credentials, we all need to take responsibility for the waste we produce,” Ms Bell said.

“This is an environmentally responsible and ethical response to a long-standing waste challenge that has been through a stringent assessment process.

“It is vital for all Tasmanians that we have the proper best practice infrastructure in place to protect public health and our environment as well as support our industries, businesses and jobs.”

Ms Bell said SWS had always stated the business case for the C cell stacked up on its own, with or without external funding.

“What this simply means is that we will no longer start construction straight away and will now examine further options to determine a construction start date,” Ms Bell said.

• Earlier: Will the toxic dump get its funding

• Mark Hawkes, in Comments: “The River House was the perfect place to stay with my family who were visiting from over seas. We all loved it and enjoyed being right on the water, fishing, bird watching and just relaxing! We would love to come again! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.” – You have just read a review of holiday accommodation on the Carlton River.(Stayz.com) If you Google Earth the Carlton River and follow her up through her natural bends, what do you find? Christine Bell’s toxic dump sight. This is not clever. This is cheap and nasty. This is far from best practice. This needs transparent study.

• Terry James, in Comments: Ms Bell says that the business case for the C cell stacked up on its own, with or without external funding. SWS has never released figures to support that statement and the promised public meeting has never happened. RDAF monies are supposed to be for ‘not for profit’ organisations but SWS clearly does not fall into that category. Watch out for similar applications from Clarence City or Kingborough Councils (then Sorell Council, again) because they all have a stake in SWS and they all hope to make a quid from the toxic dump. Sorell Council, the big knob in all of this, continues to ignore a petition from 25% of ratepayers who oppose the toxic dump. Brighton retepayers, with the help of the Greens saw off a proposal to incinerate the waste (generating power for 1600 homes) at Brighton. Sorell Council ratepayers (without any meaningful help from the Greens) are fighting to stop a toxic C cell that will, in time, leak toxins into the land and sea where we live. The guarantee from Christine Bell and John Brennan that the C cell liner will last (without leaking) for hundreds of years is disingenuous and more importantly, worthless.

• Ben, in Comments: And therein lies the point. Opponents of the Copping C-cell have said quite openly on this site that the alternative to the C-cell is a statewide move to the European waste management model … which includes waste incinceration. So they need to be upfront and tell us, the rest of Tasmania, whether they will support a waste incinerator in their backyards if they are successful in their campaign against the C-cell? Can the opponents pass the same test that they are demanding SWS pass? I ask again, will the Copping C-cell opponents support a waste incinerator on the same site?

• Shane Humphreys, Environment Tasmania: Funding Failure for Toxic Waste Dump a Victory for Southern Beaches Residents and the Carlton River Catchment The Carlton River commences in the Weilangta forests before journeying through the beautiful districts of Kellevie, Bream Creek and Copping before terminating into Frederick Henry Bay at the popular Carlton Beach. It is the home of many agricultural pursuits, Swift Parrots, Tasmanian Devils, Wedge Tailed Eagles, Angasi oysters and adjacent to the mouth of the river, is the last known breeding colony of the critically endangered RED Handfish. It is also home to one of the fastest growing coastal communities in Tasmania. This is no place for a toxic waste dump.

• Southern Beaches Conservation Society (SBCS), President Angela Marsh: Battle Won But War Not Over “This is a real grass roots campaign supported by real people with very real concerns. And just as importantly they are people who are open to exploring waste management alternatives for all of Tasmania.”

• Peter McGlone, Director, Tasmanian Conservation Trust, in Comments: The decision by the Australian Government’s Regional Development Australia Fund to not fund the Copping C-cell is a vote of support for the community who oppose it and want better treatment of disposal of hazardous waste and a vote against the claims by Southern Waste Solutions that industries in Tasmania are demanding and needing a C-cell. For nearly 12 months the TCT and the local community have asked SWS for evidence that there is a need for the Copping C-cell and they have failed to provide it. SWS claim there are industries which produce hazardous waste or are storing legacy waste which must go to a C-cell and cannot be retreated or disposed of in other ways, but cannot name one industry. SWS produced a report in April 2012 (co-funded with the State Government) which it claims identifies numerous industries with waste which needs to be sent to a C-cell but SWS refuses to release the report or any information contained in it. Now the RDAF has failed to fund the C-cell, it is clear that SWS also failed to convince the RDAF that a C-cell is vital for Tasmania’s industries.

• Christine Bell, SWS CEO, Monday June 17 Environmental report gives all clear after extreme rainfall event: SWS CEO Christine Bell said the results demonstrated the effectiveness of the engineering works at the facility. “The EPA set stringent conditions on the discharge, and these conditions were all met, as well as monitoring conducted before, during and after the discharge, which indicated that adverse environmental impacts were unlikely,” Ms Bell said. “Importantly, there was also no discharge from either of the leachate ponds at the facility.”

• Angela Marsh, in Comments, June 20: Perhaps all of you who are commenting here will come to the “Waste of Tasmania” Expo on Parliament House Lawns on Saturday 29 June from 11am to 3pm. We (SBCS) will have a soap box. There are a number of good speakers and our keynote is Andrew Wilkie. You will be able to find out about recycling, remediation and 22 alternative technologies to landfill – ewaste – waste “mining” and Why Copping – the C cell site – the technology and the science is world’s worst practice.