Big win for western Sydney with waste incinerator recommended for refusal

MEDIA RELEASE 11 April 2018

NSW Greens energy spokesman Jeremy Buckingham today said the recommendation by the Department of Planning that the proposed western Sydney waste to energy incinerator be refused was a huge win for the residents of western Sydney and the lungs of all the people in Sydney. He called on the government to back the Greens bill to ban such incinerators within 15km of residential areas to secure clean air into the future.

The Department of planning recommends to the Independent Planning Commission:

“Based on the advice of the EPA, NSW Health and the Independent Experts, the Department’s assessment of the application concludes the proposal is inconsistent with the NSW EPA’s Energy from Waste Policy Statement (2015), the air quality impacts and risk to human health is unknown, the development is not in the public interest and should be refused.

We have now referred our assessment report and recommendation to the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) for final determination. As part of this process, the IPC will hold a public meeting to give the community further opportunity to raise their concerns.”

“This is a fantastic win for the residents of western Sydney and the Greens, who have been fighting this toxic proposal for years,” said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

“The government should now back the Greens Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Waste Incinerator Facilities-Residential Exclusion Zones) Bill 2017 which will ban large waste to energy incinerators within 15 kilometres of residential zonings.

“I’m pleased to see the decision to hold a public meeting rather than a public hearing as part of the Independent Planning Commission’s assessment process, as a public hearing would have extinguished a merits review in the courts.

“Incinerating waste is not green energy. We should be seeking to reduce, reuse and recycle waste rather than create a large incinerator and permanent waste stream to feed its boilers,” he said.