Extra Info and FAQ’s

About the Gunnedah Industrial Precinct Facility

FAQs

This location is currently undergoing an assessment for approval.

But wont this create a whole lot of dust in the area?

Not at all. Inside the facility a comprehensive, zone sensitive, water misting dust suppression will be a part of the processing shed.

All road surfaces at the facility will either be two coat sealed or asphalted to control wheel generated dust. All trucks exiting the site will go through a wheel wash/rumble grid combo to prevent mud and or dirt being dragged onto the local road network.

What materials will be accepted?

About 50% of the intended waste is excavated natural materials (ENM) that meet the lowest contaminated thresholds (CT1 thresholds) for soils.

Only soils and excavated natural material that meet the CT1 thresholds as per the EPA’s guidelines will be accepted at the proposed recycling facility. This material would be mechanically sorted by front-end loader in the unloading shed prior to screening with a trommel in the processing shed.

About 25-30% of the waste stream will be Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste, with about 15% being Commercial and Industrial (C&I) waste.

The C & D waste includes bricks, concrete, tiles, suitable slags and concrete batching waste, asphalt, rail ballast spoils, and any other material meeting the definition of Construction and Demolition waste as defined in the EPA Waste Classification ‘Guidelines Part 1: Classifying Waste’.

C & I waste includes paper/cardboard, plastics, rubber, plasterboard, cement fibre board, ceramics, glass, styrene, and metals. This material would be mechanically sorted by front-end loader in the unloading shed prior screening in the enclosed processing shed in accordance with the EPA guidelines and stockpiled. It can then be offered for resale as a recycled product, or, if not suited to recycling, then removed to a licensed facility.

Will the Industrial Precinct Facility contribute to increased noise?

No. All unloading and separating activities will occur indoors in a purpose built shed that comprises a combination of 4-metre-high x 250mm thick concrete panels at the base of the walls for noise minimisation and Colourbond above those panels.

The entire site will have a vegetative screen established and a 1.8 metre high security fence around the perimeter. The fence will be screened with printed shade cloth to further minimise any visual impacts.

The waste facility is to be established in a Zoned General Industrial area, surrounded by other industrial uses, and is set back reasonably from residential uses and residential zoned areas.

Will this facility contaminate local groundwater?

No. No groundwater or any groundwater dependent ecosystems will be affected.

Any leachate (Leachate is the fluid generated from liquids present in the waste and from outside water, including rainwater, percolating though the waste) generated at the premises will not come into contact with stormwater or any stormwater infrastructure. All site leachate will be directed to the leachate sumps.

What are the operating hours for the facility going to be?

The proposed recycling facility will normally operate and accept deliveries between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm Monday to Saturday, excluding public holidays.

The operation of heavy machinery is only able to occur between 7.00am-5.00pm Monday to Friday.

No recycling facility operations to be undertaken on Sundays or public holidays. Facility construction hours would be 7.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday and 8.00am to 1.00pm Saturdays.

Where can I read the full Environmental Impact Study that was submitted to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment for the second location?

You can access the full Submission and the EIS here via this link

What toxic or hazardous waste will be received at the Industrial Precinct Facility?

None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

The development is a Recycling & Resource Recovery Facility that will NOT receive any toxic or hazardous waste.

We will also not be receiving any ‘putrescible’ waste. Putrescible waste is solid waste that contains organic matter, including household waste (which contains organics), waste from bins collected by Councils, manure, night soil, animal waste, and disposable nappies.

How do I know all the waste going in to be recycled is only materials approved by the EPA?

Our EPA licence will confirm what can be accepted at the facility.

There are protocols in place for the receiving of any waste to the facility which are part of the submission to State Planning. The key goal of these protocols are to prevent unlicensed waste coming onto site.

All waste coming onto site will go through a two-step inspection process. First at the weighbridge via a viewing gantry and secondly in the unloading shed as unloading is occurring. Any load detected with non-conforming material at the weighbridge will be denied entry and sent back to their dispatch point. Any load detected with non-conforming material whilst unloading, will be immediately reloaded and sent back to their dispatch point.

All waste coming onto, and going out of, the site must be accounted for. Two weighbridges will be part of that monitoring process.

How many trucks are going to be going in and out of the facility daily?

We anticipate the actual truck volumes to be about 4 movements per hour.

At the time of the 2017 Motor Vehicle Census (MVC) traffic volumes along the Kamillaroi Highway were noted as high as 2,100 vehicles per day, or 87.5 per hour, so any truck movements from our site will have minimal additional impact.