A PROCESSION of dump trucks greets us at the entry to the Hallam Rd Landfill.
They’re not there to dump rubbish, but to collect ground cement from the on-site concrete crusher.
Aside from the landfill, which is currently filling its eighth cell and has a licence to operate until 2040, the 100ha site is home to the aforementioned concrete crusher, that produces road-base material, a product destruction business, a construction and demolition product sorting and processing facility, a transfer station and a generation system that draws gas from the landfill, producing electricity.
You need a 4WD to get around the muddy tip in these wet conditions – and a set of gumboots to get out.
At the height of some of the completed cells, there is more than 30m of waste underneath, encased in 1m of compacted clay, a 2mm high density polyethylene liner, overlaid with a cushion geo-textile and a leachate collection system.
The gas capture system, which turns gas into energy, has the capacity to generate enough energy to power over 3,000 homes.
Leachate – waste water from the cells – is managed through two ponds, which pump the water into sewage once safe.
A deodorising spray is used to mask smells.
Heavy machinery is used to cover the rubbish with soil at the end of each day.
It’s not the only use for heavy machinery on the site. A huge crushing system breaks up the concrete and turns it into small stones, while other machinery is used to destroy recalled retail products.
Plenty of smiling faces greeted us at the public transfer station, which is run by Outlook Environmental, which provides jobs and vocational training for disadvantaged workers.
On the tour, Sita Environmental Solutions state general manager Daniel Fyfe tells me the February floods that saturated much of Casey had put the landfill under water, only serving to speed up the generation of landfill gas.
``We are an essential service, not that people often think of us that way,’’ Mr Fyfe said.
``Households produce waste and it has to go somewhere.
``We’ve had unprecedented wet weather and that has posed problems for landfills right along the eastern seaboard.’’
The former quarry that has been run by Sita since 1999 doesn’t smell at the moment, although that hasn’t always been the case recently.
``We’ve just connected 14 new gas wells into the active site,’’ Mr Fyfe says.
``This is unprecedented for landfills in Australia, usually the wells are installed after the cells are complete.
``We’re doing everything we can.’’
He said future cells would be much smaller than the current one, in order to provide greater control of landfill gas.
The EPA has received over 500 complaints from residents about smells emanating from the landfill since April and traced stinks back to the facility six times since. The Leader revealed earlier this month the authority plans on taking enforcement action against Sita over the smells.
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