How many more floods will the Carlton River have before the Copping landfill site is considered unsafe?
The proponents (Southern Waste Solutions (SWS)), stated after the first event that it was a 1 in 100 year event and not likely to happen again. This is the third torrential rain event in 3 years.
Remember the April 2013 event and the pumping catastrophe, when the storm water ponds required pumping and testing 10 meters downstream of the Carlton River, revealed: Nitrogen; Ammonia; Nitrate as N; Cadmium; Copper; Nickel; lead; and Zinc; even though the release was diluted with 9 times the volume of water. In fact the release was stopped.
If the hazardous waste C cell is constructed even more toxic materials will be landfilled at the Copping site.
Where is the EPA? What are they doing regarding monitoring the Copping site? This landfill site is teetering on the edge of becoming a major hazard. The geomorphology does not stack up; the whole site is on a hillside that slopes towards the surrounding waterways and the Carlton River and the rainfall events will only increase as we become more prone to drought – deluge weather events.
Southern Beaches Conservation Society (SBCS) has always maintained that the Copping C Cell is a bad idea. The proponents, SWS have never had a viable business case and no customers. They have a mentality of ‘build it and they will come.’ SWS is a landfill operator and is not interested in any other form of waste management.
How did state government decide to grant $2m to SWS and condemn Tasmania to another 20 years of landfill and hazardous waste dumping, instead of imposing a waste levy, even though interstate and overseas landfill is phasing out, making waste a valuable commodity, creating jobs?
Peter Derkley, Dump the Toxic Dump
