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2002 (c) Peninsula Community Access Newspaper Inc

 

Recycling facility proposed for Bulls Hill quarry

 

Gosford Council staff have recommended approval to rezone the Bulls Hill Quarry site to allow it to be developed as a composting and recycling facility.

The council decided to defer a decision until after a site inspection scheduled for today, Tuesday, February 12.

Camden Soil Mix Pty Ltd had applied for the rezoning, seeking preparation of a draft local environment plan to enable the site to operate as "Bays Park Resource Recovery Facility".

The facility would involve the composting of organic materials including green waste, food waste and poultry carcasses to produce soil conditioners for sale in the agricultural, horticultural, landscaping and plant nursery industries.

It would be able to process 60,000 tonnes of green organic material, 30,000 tonnes of construction-demolition material and 10,000 tonnes of food waste and poultry carcasses a year.

Enclosed vertical composting units would be used which "allows for maximum control of the process and ensures odour emissions are minimal".

The applicant's air quality study was unable to state that the proposal would meet EPA performance criteria.

In their report, council staff suggested to the Council that it "evaluate the economic and environmental benefits of the facility to the wider community against the undesirable odour impacts that may occur locally".

They noted "it would not be until the facility is operational that any realistic assessment of odour impact could be made".

Council staff recommended that the rezoning proceed to allow consideration of a separate development application for an organic composting-recycling facility and construction-demolition recovery facility at the former quarry at Woy Woy Rd, Woy Woy Bay.

The site is currently Crown land administered by the Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC).

The council was told the facility was of "a regional scale" and was required to facilitate the council's commitment to resource recycling and to reduce the amount of refuse within conventional landfill sites.

The life expectancy of both Woy Woy and Kincumber waste depots would be extended as a result of recyclable material being diverted to the quarry site.

Green wastes were currently transferred to Sydney by Camden Soils for recycling, a process which would be undertaken locally should the facility go ahead.

The Council was told that the quarry site had not been rehabilitated and was contributing to the siltation of Woy Woy Creek and Correa Bay "... due to the lack of management controls in place during the quarry operation".

The redevelopment was intended to result in a better environmental outcome than if the site were to remain in its current condition.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service and NSW Fisheries raised objections on environmental grounds to the site being used as a recycling facility.

The council officers commented that the concerns related more to any future development application for the site, rather than a rezoning of the land.

Council agenda DH.021, February 5