The State’s Legislative Council is being petitioned to reject waste management firm Hi-Quality’s proposed waste-to-energy plant in Bulla – those wanting to sign have until Friday 6 September 2024.
According to the Parliamentary website, the petition has been sponsored by Geelong GP and co-deputy leader of the Victorian Green Party Sarah Mansfield.
The petition states that “…thanks to industry lobbying and greenwash, some are convinced that waste-to-energy incinerators are the clean alternative to landfill”.
Sunbury Life has reported extensively on Hi-Quality’s plans to built a waste-to-energy plant and expand activities at its 256 hectare site in Sunbury Rd.
The firm was in Broadmeadows court last month following a prosecution by the Environmental Protection Agency, and ordered to pay $40,000 to a Sunbury community project.
The petition claims power generation incinerators threaten to stifle the shift to zero waste and a circular economy by locking councils into long-term contracts for waste generation.
According to Hume City Council’s Waste and Recovery Strategy 2022-2023 report, in 2021 the council collected 9,264 tonnes of rubbish that ended up in a landfill. A figure well short of the proposed waste-to-energy plant’s annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes.
“Waste incineration is not a renewable source of energy as it is an extractive industry that burns waste made from virgin resources, mostly crude oil,” states the petition.
“Without intervention now, incinerators threaten to lock us into the old waste paradigm and become a source of significant environmental problems into the future.
“The proposed incinerator site on Sunbury Road in Bulla will be located only one kilometre away from the nearest residential area and will add an additional 400 to 800 trucks to local roads a day. This is a prime example of this greenwashing and should not be permitted to proceed.”
In February, Lance Ingrams, Hi-Quality’s national integration & strategy executive, said the proposed waste-to-energy plant would burn non-hazardous waste to spin a steam-powered turbine that would generate electricity. Residual waste (ash) would be used as a building material, such as used in roading.
Click here to see the petition.
