Penny Sharpe, NSW Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Heritage and the Environment, has a seat at the table when budgets that can help resolve the waste issues are decided. Heres some background she needs to make the right decisions.
You may have heard about the New South Wales government releasing its new Waste Infrastructure Plan. You may have read my last article in The Fifth Estate praising the government for doing so. You may think: all good, the government has this covered!
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Not so fast!
As I said here the infrastructure woes that have befallen NSW are not easily fixed and they were entirely predictable.
I know, it is easy to criticise. How about some balanced presentation of the issues?
Okay then, here is the good news
First, the government has finally acknowledged there is an impending waste crisis and something needs to be done urgently.
Second, there is an acknowledgement that waste is an essential service and if nothing changes, NSW will see job losses of around 11,000 and an approximate reduction of $23 billion in economic activity.
Third, the government has pulled together an inter-agency working group to overcome the silo mentality and ensure various government agencies are involved, talk to each other and know what to do when new projects or applications come in, instead of giving people the run-around. This should speed things up.
Fourth, the Energy from Waste (EfW) policy will be updated to align with the European Union’s (EU) Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), supported by the EU’s Best Available Techniques Reference Document (BREF). This gives industry the certainty to be able to design, build and operate these EfW in NSW. New EfW precincts will also be gazetted near Lithgow and Tomago, so there will be set locations for these facilities to go.
Fifth, the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and Property and Development NSW (PDNSW) will, as lead agencies, be responsible for strategic waste infrastructure planning and coordination over the next 50 years. One very important aspect of this long-term planning is the protection of existing waste infrastructure from urban fringe expansion, exactly what I asked for here.
There were a few other issues addressed like the definition of “thermal treatment” under the EfW policy, which was too restrictive and hindered genuine resource recovery solutions, but the above points are the main ones the government has to be lauded for.
All of the above are good steps in the right direction, hence the (rare) song of praise for the government and minister in my last article.
However, there are some issues that, if not also addressed, will work against the aims the government wants to achieve.
The EfW policy requires significant change.
The wholescale prohibition of EfW ought to be revoked. The gazettal of land is meaningless if access to the land cannot be obtained on reasonable terms and in reasonable time.
If the land gazetted is not owned by the government, the gazettal is more or less a gesture only, no real solution. These issues need to be tackled.
Much more education needs to be done to take the fear factor away from EfW. After the changes made, I can see the Parkes (Tribe consortium) and the Goulburn (Veolia) facilities going ahead, but the other two facilities at Lithgow and Tomago are still highly questionable.
First, access to land must be secured and then the long road to obtain approvals and financial close must be taken. Failure is a very real option. Then what? The plan clearly states that those two facilities are not enough. Gazettal of another piece of land and start the whole journey from scratch? It will be too late by then. Hello? Reality check! Solution: Abandon the EfW policy. Start again. Deeply listen to advice. Try to understand the commercial reality.
Another reality check is equally important. The plan states that “Waste infrastructure in NSW is owned and operated by the private sector or local government. It is these parties’ role to design and deliver waste infrastructure and waste services for the people of NSW.”
Really?
I think this is the one issue (attitude) that led to the crisis in the first place.
The government has at least partial amnesia on this issue.
When WSN was privatised, the state government left local government literally in the lurch as local government then had to use privately owned waste infrastructure. Nice. Thank you very much!
Firstly, the private sector has no obligations under any rule or legislation to design and deliver any waste infrastructure. Zero, nil, nada!
What happened when the government put out its guide to waste infrastructure needs in 2021 hoping that industry would respond? Nothing.
Secondly, the state government seems to have forgotten that it took the responsibility for putrescible waste infrastructure off local government in Greater Sydney with the formation of the Metropolitan Waste Disposal Authority in 1971, which then became Waste Service NSW (WSN) in 1992, a state-owned corporation.
When WSN was privatised, the state government left local government literally in the lurch as local government then had to use privately owned waste infrastructure. Nice. Thank you very much!
If you are interested and want to read about this, have a look at the NSW Parliament Library Research Service, “Waste Management in New South Wales: A Review, by Stewart Smith (Briefing Paper No 1/2001).
This report also talks about the Woodlawn landfill near Goulburn that Greater Sydney now relies upon. Then Labor government minister Andrew Refshauge approved the landfill in 2000 with the condition that it could not accept more than 400,000 tonnes of waste a year and it needed to decrease the quantities to 290,000 a year. The landfill was to last Sydney for 50 years.
What happened in reality?
The landfill now, 25 years later, needs an extension to avoid a waste crisis and is accepting nearly 1 million tonnes of waste per year. So much for government understanding of the waste sector!
What no report will tell you, but people who worked on the front lines can is that WSN, the state owned corporation actively tried to prevent this landfill from going ahead. “Competition? We can’t have that!”
One of the real problems with long term planning is that Governments have no corporate memory.
Solution, first part: know your history, own your mistakes. Listen. Deeply!
Solution, second part: Waste is an essential service, as government has acknowledged. It needs to not only plan but proactively interact with the stakeholders to get the right infrastructure in the right locations up and running.
Whatever that means at the time. Saying that local government or the private sector are responsible is not only wrong, it is straight out irresponsible!
Money? Not an issue. The waste levy generates around $800 million every year. That’ll do.
Treasury? Yes, I know. That’s a problem. But hey, Penny Sharpe, NSW Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Heritage and the Environment, has a seat at the table when budgets are decided. So, put your foot down, Penny! It’s essential!