Pressure continues to build on the developers of a dump close to Gundagai with a powerful lobby group throwing its weight behind a grassroots movement.
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NSW Farmers has expressed its opposition to the expansion of the waste management facility, which Visy uses to discard of non-putrescible rubbish.
The proposal is to increase the capacity of the site to take up to 750,000 tonnes of waste over the next 15 years.
The public consultation period for the expansion of the waste management facility was supposed to close at the end of last week but was extended to Friday.
NSW Farmer Gundagai branch chair Kevin Malone said local farmers were concerned about potential land and water contamination.
“Our local members have expressed compelling reasons why this proposed expansion has implications for the environment and local food and fibre production,” Mr Malone said.
“We will be acting on this local issue and using NSW Farmers to ensure the concerns of local farmers are heard.”
Members of the Gundagai Community Environment Impact Group say the developers need to fix the current site before even thinking about adding to it.
The group’s vice-chair, Freda Nicholls, said it would continue its fight to fix the site.
“The data in the current development application is indicative that the site is leaking in less than three years. What will it be like in another 10?” Mrs Nicholls said.
“There are (alternative sites) available to Visy, but they are more expensive.
“In our view, you can’t put a price on clean water.
“The saline concentration is not toxic, but the leachate is highly toxic – it is twice the salinity of sea water.”
Council general manager Phil Murray said the planning officer would accept formal submissions from the public until developers produce a more detailed Environmental Impact Statement.
“We know it’s a fairly controversial development,” Mr Murray said.
“We’ve only received 10 formal submissions so far.”
Mrs Nicholls thanked the Gundagai community for throwing its support behind the not-for-profit group.
“We’re raising funds for a $60,000 independent environment report and we would like to thank the hundreds of people who have supported us with donations, letters of support and phone calls, it is all greatly appreciated,” Mrs Nicholls said.
The paper, packaging and recycling company Visy has been using a site less than three kilometres from Gundagai since 2013 to dump waste.
The site – a former quarry – is licensed to accommodate 150,000 tonnes of non-putrescible solid waste.
