Carr gives go ahead to waste dump in Sydney's west

January 14, 2004
Issue 

Sarah Harris, Sydney

On December 17, legislation was rushed through the NSW parliament by Labor Premier Bob Carr's government to allow the Collex company to set up a large domestic waste transfer station at Clyde, in the Sydney municipality of Auburn.

The legislation overrides the decision by the NSW Land and Environment Court to oppose the Collex dump in Clyde.

Since 2001 local residents have shown strong opposition to the proposed waste station on health and environmental grounds. They have attended numerous protest rallies and meetings since early 2002.

The most recent rally — on December 20 — was held outside the Auburn shopping centre. It was called by the Auburn Community Alliance campaign group and was attended by 100 people.

Local residents Ed Mason, chairperson of the Auburn Community Alliance, and Lisa Macdonald, Socialist Alliance candidate for the federal seat of Reid, spoke at the rally.

The management of Sydney's waste is both a city-wide and state-wide issue. The original $1 billion contract between Collex and the NSW government was to upgrade waste transfer stations in Sydney's northern suburbs but Collex baulked at the cost.

Currently, there are seven waste stations throughout Sydney, and Collex intends to replace these with one large waste station at Clyde, providing more savings to Collex. The NSW government has gone along with Collex's proposed waste management plan.

The state government, local government and private businesses currently share the waste management costs in Sydney. For instance, private businesses pay to transport waste from stations to landfills such as Woodlawn, near Goulburn, NSW. The use of the old open-cut mine site at Woodlawn poses an environmental hazard for the nearby water catchment area that feeds the Warragamba dam. This dam is a major source of Sydney's drinking water.

With one large station at Clyde, Sydney rate payers would have to foot the bill to transport waste from homes all over Sydney, rather than only paying for transport to smaller, local waste stations. Collex will be paid by the tonne to dispose of the waste so it would have little incentive to recycle.

Mason said that Auburn residents should not have to suffer by receiving waste from all over Sydney. He said that it was a cynical exercise by the state Labor government, with Liberal backing, to allow Collex to put a large waste dump in the Auburn area, given that Auburn is a safe Labor seat.

He felt that for too long the low income suburbs in the Auburn region had been neglected by state governments. He speculated that high land values in the wealthier northern suburbs of Sydney were putting pressure on smaller waste transfer stations to be closed in the northern suburbs.

People wanting to join the anti-dump campaign or find out more are invited to attend a public meeting called by the Auburn Community Alliance at 2pm on January 17 at the Auburn Town Hall, 1 Susan Street, Auburn. To find out more about the campaign, phone Ed Mason on 0414 761 618 or email <auburncommunityalliance@yahoo.com>.

From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
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