ACT's new recycling facility

Interim recycling services

• Until the new facility is complete, recycling services will continue to be delivered by the current contractor, Re.Group.
• Since the fire, the ACT Government has been transporting the ACT’s recycling material to interstate material recovery facilities.
• There are no changes planned to current recycling management in the ACT until the new facility is operational.

Soft plastics

• Soft plastics are not currently a material which will be accepted by the new facility.
• There is work being undertaken at a national level to address issues around soft plastics. This includes a new national packaging regulatory scheme to design out hard-to-recycle packaging and developing a framework for soft plastics collection. and national processing capacity.

Odour and dust generation

• An air quality impact assessment was undertaken as part of the draft Environmental Impact Statement and is available at Appendix M in the documentation.
• The assessment found all proposed activities to be acceptable from an air quality perspective.
• The new recycling facility in Canberra will not be sorting or processing any decomposing matter or biodegradable wastes, and odour emissions are expected to be minimal.
• The main sources of odour will be generated from incoming trucks delivering recycling, residual waste after processing and the receival of any non-compliant loads.
• Some dust may be generated from delivering, sorting, crushing and processing recycling, similar to existing operations.
• Trucks entering and leaving the site may also be a source of dust.

Mitigation and management

• The facility will be fully enclosed and storage areas provided (subject to detailed design).
• If required, dust collectors will be used in any areas which regularly emit a large amount of dust.
• Dust will be minimised during construction of the facility with appropriate dust mitigation and management measures.

Noise generation

• A Noise and Vibration Impact Assessment was prepared for the draft EIS and is available at Appendix O in the documentation.
• Noise levels are expected to be similar to, and not expected to exceed, the levels generated by the original Materials Recovery Facility.
• The operational times will be determined by the contractor, however, it is expected the hours will be similar to the original facility and be consistent with the surrounding industrial environment. Operating hours will be specified in the development approval conditions.
• The main sources of noise will be during operational hours and generated from the machinery associated with sorting material, crushing glass and incoming and outgoing trucks.

Mitigation and management

• As part of the Noise and Vibration Assessment for the new recycling facility, management or mitigation measures will be developed (if required) during the detailed design stage to ensure the facility’s operational activities comply with the relevant guidelines and legislation of the ACT.

Visual impacts

• A Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments was undertaken as part of the draft EIS. It is available at Appendix G in the EIS documentation.
• The new facility will be located within the Hume Industrial Estate landscape character zone and impacts on this existing landscape character were assessed as low.
• Impacts to other landscape character zones within vicinity were assessed as negligible.
• This is due to views being commonly screened or filtered by surrounding built form, topography and/or vegetation. Furthermore, the proposed infrastructure components are similar in scale, height and character to the existing recycling facility and surrounding existing infrastructure.

Traffic generation and parking

• The facility will generally operate from Monday to Friday, coinciding with truck deliveries from household bin collections and the loading and transportation of processed products.
• Peak times for truck traffic will typically be between 7.30 am to midday, and 1.30 pm to 5 pm weekdays. Weekend use of the facilities is not yet determined and will be subject to the operator.
• During operation at full capacity, the facility is expected to generate the following vehicle movements during peak hour:
  • Heavy vehicles: 16 vehicle movements (eight inbound and eight outbound)
  • Light vehicles: 30 vehicle movements (15 inbound in the AM, 15 outbound in the PM).
• All up it is estimated to be around 131 inbound and 131 outbound heavy vehicles per day which is approximately 60 more than currently experienced. However it is also important to note whilst the new facility is being designed to operate with a full processing capacity of 115,000 tonnes, it is unlikely to operate with that capacity from day one. This is due to the additional processing capacity accounting for future growth in Canberra and the surrounding region for 20 years from the operation of the new facility.
• Access to the facilities will be via the existing road network including Recycling Road and John Cory Road.
• Parking for employees and visitors to the new recycling facility will be provided within the site.

Mitigation and management

• The Traffic Impact Assessment has looked at the existing traffic and assessed the impact of the new facilities and determined both construction and operation of the facility will have minimal impact on the road network when compared to its current performance.
• It is noted once the facility is operating at full capacity, potentially 20 years from the operation of the new facility, the future upgrades along the Monaro Highway in this section are anticipated to be constructed and will improve the current performance of the network dramatically.
• Two car parking areas are proposed within the new recycling facility accounting for 44 parking spaces including two mobility impaired spaces. It is expected this would accommodate the staff and visitor parking demands associated with the operation of the new recycling facility.
• In addition, a dedicated space would be provided within the new recycling facility adjacent to the educational facility for buses.