SOUTHERN METROPOLITAN REGIONAL COUNCIL —
REGIONAL RESOURCE RECOVERY CENTRE
202. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the minister representing the
Minister for Environment:
I refer to the recent decision not
to renew the operating licence for the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council
regional resource recovery centre.
(1) If the
RRRC is closed, will the municipal solid waste that is now being processed
there go to landfill?
(2) If no to (1), how will the municipal solid waste be
disposed of?
(3) If yes to
(1), how does the minister justify this decision and how will this affect the
recovery targets set out in the state's waste strategy, ''Creating
the Right Environment''?
(4) How is the
decision to close the RRRC likely to impact on residents in Cockburn,
Fremantle, East Fremantle, Kwinana and Melville who currently send their
municipal solid waste to the RRRC?
(5) Has the minister commissioned a study to determine the
environmental cost, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, that will
flow from the decision to close the RRRC?
(6) If no to (5), why not?
(7) If yes to (5), could the minister tell us the results of
the study?
Hon
HELEN MORTON replied:
I thank the member for some notice
of the question.
(1)–(7)
The Director General of the Department of Environment and Conservation, in his
media statement of 30 March 2012 announcing his decision on the Southern
Metropolitan Regional Council regional resource recovery centre licence, stated
that he no longer had confidence that the existing odour control technology and
management systems are reliable. The Minister for Environment and DEC are
committed to diverting waste from landfill and improving recycling rates to
meet the targets in the waste strategy. However, it is not acceptable for waste
treatment facilities to impact communities with unreasonable odour emissions.
The director general and senior DEC staff have been working with the SMRC and
its member councils on pollution control measures that would allow the centre
to be reopened. While there will be diversion by councils of general waste from
green-top bins to landfill in the meantime, this will not be ongoing if
discussions with the SMRC are successfully concluded.