Plans to build what would be Australia’s largest plastics recycling plant in the NSW Southern highlands have advanced despite community opposition and environmental concerns.
The Plasrefine recycling plant would be built across three hectares of a 7.7-hectare Moss Vale site, rise four storeys high, and recycle up to 120,000 tonnes of plastic annually.
The proposed facility is just over 200 metres from a residential area, raising concerns about land use, environmental impact and traffic.
The local council and residents have been fighting the proposal since it was first proposed in 2020, but on Friday the NSW Department of Planning recommended its approval.
Wingecarribee Councillor Rachel Russel, Councillor James Farrell, Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick, Councillor David Kent, Councillor Heather Champion are deeply concerned by the proposal. (Supplied: Wingecarribee Council)
“Disappointment would be an understatement,” Wingecarribee Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick said of the decision.
“The community isn’t opposed to a recycling facility, but not where this one is being proposed.”
The site was previously zoned light and general industrial, but the council is in the process of rezoning the area for bio-tech in what it’s calling the Southern Highlands Innovation Precinct (SHIP).
The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) had scheduled a review of the project, initially online, but following a gathering of more than 100 people near the site on Monday, the IPC agreed to hold an in-person hearing in Bowral on October 28.
More than 100 people gathered to voice their concerns about the decision in Moss Vale on Monday. (Supplied: Cr Rachel Russell)
Local MP Wendy Tuckerman said she opposed the project and has offered to help Plasrefine find alternative sites, without receiving a response.
Project follows China ban
In the project’s Environment Impact Statement (EIS), Plasrefine said it originally considered building the facility at the Aerotropolis in Western Sydney, but it found land zonings were not suitable.
The state government believes the Plasrefine plant presents an opportunity to help ease the plastic recycling problem that the state has been facing since China banned importing plastics in 2017.
Examples of the flakes and pellets Plasrefine intends to make. (Supplied: Plasrefine)
The EIS cites NSW government data from 2018-2019 that approximately 760,000 tonnes of plastic entered the waste management system and only 19 per cent was recycled.
The state government said it did not have more recent data.
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) figures in the EIS note that 90,000 tonnes of plastic is recycled across 18 facilities in NSW annually.
The Moss Vale plant would sort plastics into five types, and process them into pellets and flakes, with some then reprocessed into products such as furniture and plastic pallets.
Plasrefine said construction of the facility would create 200 jobs, and 140 jobs when operational.
Some of Australia’s recycling efforts are ‘pretty poor’, says the University of Queensland’s Stephen Jones. (ABC South East: Jack D Evans)
Critical recycling gap
Structural engineering lecturer at the University of Wollongong Aziz Ahmed warned that, since Australia is no longer able to export plastic waste, it had been accumulating in landfills or left unprocessed at major recycling plants.
“The rate we are filling up our landfill means we may run out of space in just 15 years, so that is a quite scary scenario,” Dr Ahmed said.
He said in Australia the core issue was not a lack of recycling infrastructure but rather insufficient market demand for recycled plastic.
This is because it is so cheap to buy products with virgin plastics and Australia requires regulation to encourage the use of recycled plastics to address this concern.
Concern over additives
Dr Ahmed said he was concerned Plasrefine had not disclosed the synthetic additives it would use in the recycling process.
He said most companies had their own proprietary mix that only their research teams would know, and it should be reviewed by Sydney Water and the NSW EPA.
“I am concerned about the potential impact of synthetic additives. I would recommend using naturally derived additives or having more control about how those additives are added,” he said.
“A lot of concerning chemicals can get into the recycled plastics and then eventually leach into the environment.”
He said that, nationally, Australia was behind international standards to manage additives in plastic recycling and should follow the lead of the European Union, which is setting stringent guidelines.
The ABC attempted to interview Plasrefine, but GHD, the company engaged to prepare its EIS, provided a statement in response to a series of questions.
“Both the applicant and the department acknowledge that there remains ongoing public concern about the social impacts of the development, particularly regarding the changing character of the area,” the statement read.
“However, both the applicant and the department note that the character changes from primarily rural residential to business and industrial uses can be attributed to the creation of the MVEC (Moss Vale Enterprise Corridor) and associated land rezoning more than 10 years ago.”
The ABC was unable to contact Plasrefine directly.
