Kurri Kurri Waste Facility to Pay More Than $125,000 for Third Breach in Three Years

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Central Waste Plant Pty Ltd will pay the NSW Environment Protection Authority more than $125,000 after its Kurri Kurri facility received more than double the amount of waste allowed.

The company received 96,000 tonnes of waste for recycling in the year leading up to March 2020, more than 60,000 tonnes more than allowed by its Environment Protection License.

This is the third consecutive year the license condition was allegedly breached. 

EPA Acting Director Regulatory Operations David Gathercole said he hoped the punishment would serve as a warning for waste companies to clean up their act.

“It is important to manage waste correctly, to set an example and to protect our environment," Mr Gathercole said.

Central Waste Plant will be required to front the cost of clean-up and conservation works totaling $93,500, involving the disposal of asbestos and remediation of illegally dumped waste in the Tomalpin Woodlands.

Another $18,000 will go toward the protection of Cessnock's critically endangered Regent Honeyeater as well as $15,000 to cover legal fees and investigation costs.

Hunter Residents Reminded Not to Chuck Batteries in the Bin, After Three Truckloads of Recycling Go Up in Flames

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Hunter residents are being asked not to throw batteries and chemicals in the everyday recycling bin after a string of incidents in which local loads went up in flames.

On Wednesday, a collection driver was forced to dump his load at Hexham to save his vehicle from a fire.

The incident was the third in as many months, following other fires involving a truck in Jesmond last week and a Gateshead facility late last year. 

Hunter Resource Recovery CEO Roger Lewis said the public's poor recycling habits frequently had "disastrous consequences".

"Once it's burnt, it's burnt - that's off to landfill," Mr Lewis said. "The actions of one resident have basically affected the disposal of 600 households."

Mr Lewis urged locals to think about what they throw, and to bring hazardous waste to disposal points or wait for council collection days instead of chucking them in with the rest of the trash.

"It's confusion, in a lot of cases," Mr Lewis said. "On a lot of batteries, there is a recycling symbol, so people think that it can go in the recycling bin."

"We're just asking people to be a little bit wiser, and only put those items in the recycling bin that are accepted."

You can head to hrr.com.au to find a list of acceptable recyclable items.