Tip life extended to 2018

The life of Woy Woy tip has been extended to as late as 2018 under a waste management strategy approved by Gosford Council at its meeting on Tuesday, May 25.

This will be achieved by a combination of recycling and piling the rubbish higher.

The strategy will see Woy Woy becoming the only tip in the municipality after 2009 and the only tip to take heavy vehicles and commercial loads from later this year.

Under the plan, Woy Woy tip will be redesigned to stockpile commercial and industrial waste, as well as garden organics and metals, for recycling and reuse.

This follows a successful trial at Kincumber tip which reduced the amount of waste being put directly into landfill, extending its life from 2005 until 2009.

Council will also redefine the "landfill contours" on the western boundary of Woy Woy tip, to create 650,000 cubic metres of "void space" for extra rubbish.

Director of development and health, Ms Colleen Worthy-Jennings, said that the trial at Kincumber tip found that 70 per cent of rubbish put into landfill is from construction and development.

"A large portion of this can be recycled," she said.

Council has been stockpiling this waste which includes garden clippings, timber, bricks, tiles, concrete, soil and scrap metal and selling it back to the public.

This action by Council will extend the life of Kincumber tip to 2009, she said.

It was previously expected to close in 2005.

Kincumber will now only be accessible by small vehicles, until its planned closure in 2009, when all waste will be redirected to Woy Woy.

However Kincumber will still be retained as a construction and development resource recovery site.

Ms Worthy Jennings said that extending the life of Kincumber tip had bought Council more time to investigate alternative waste technologies, such as recycling plants.

"Who knows what other technology we could have in the future?" she said.

In the meantime, Gosford Council will review recycling options every six months, looking for alternative options.

Ms Worthy-Jennings said Council was investigating a scheme in Wollongong where rubbish was burned to produce electricity, but the private contractor went broke, unable to sustain the business.

Mayor Cr Malcolm Brooks said at the meeting on May 25, that Council wanted to invest in a waste management strategy that would be financially viable in the longer term.

With the new strategy, the Woy Woy tip, which currently has a small metal recycling area, domestic recyclable drop off and garden organics collection sorting area would have a full resource recovery area developed.

Once a second weighbridge at Woy Woy tip is completed late this year, commercial and large vehicles will be allowed into the tip and at Kincumber only small vehicles including utes and trailers will be allowed into the tip.

Citizen of the Year Ms Heather McKenzie of South Woy Woy addressed Council to protest the changes.

She said she feared that they would lead to more trucks on Peninsula roads, and it was not viable.

"The trucks would be travelling along Peninsula roads in suburban neighbourhoods and would be completely inappropriate," she said.

Cr Jim McFayden asked Council staff to assure Peninsula residents that they would not face more and heavy traffic under the plan.

Ms Worthy-Jennings said she could not give that assurance, but said it would be fewer trucks than if the new strategy had not been implemented.

"Kincumber tip would have closed much sooner," she said.

"This way we've still got domestic rubbish from the rest of the Coast going to Kincumber and have bought ourselves some time."

Alison Branley, Council Agenda SF 009, May 25