No Incinerator Wollert held a Community Forum on Sunday August 31^st at the Whittlesea Council Offices. The Forum was a significant step in their campaign to STOP the proposed “waste to energy” incinerator being built. 

The forum was attended by at least 80 people, including families with small children. Council staff were available to assist people as needed giving the experience of a warm welcome. The Mayor of Whittlesea, Martin Taylor, was one of the speakers. This was not simply a venue for a meeting, this was support from the Council, support for “No incinerator”. The organisers seem to have put some effort into generating a spirit in the hall of respect, listening and care.

Pauline Galvin made a very beautiful and respectful acknowledgement of the Wurundjeri-willam people including their custodianship of over 60,000 years of the country on which, in contrast, the incinerator is proposed to be built. 

It is proposed to build an industrial incinerator at 510 Summerville Rd Wollert, Victoria, about 5 km NE of Craigieburn. The stack would be 60 metres high and the fallout from the burning of waste could spread 20 km in all directions. The incinerator would be fed from surrounding local Councils’ domestic, industrial and other waste. The Victorian government describes the process as:

“Waste to energy involves turning waste material into useful energy resources such as heat, electricity, and fuels. After waste avoidance, reuse, and recycling, waste to energy is the final opportunity to get value from material that would otherwise go to landfill.”

Of course, burning waste is not the end of it. The ash from the process will contain “heavy metals, organic compounds and other toxic contaminants”. The EPA simply says: “It must be treated to be suitable for use.” It does not say how this can be done.

The list of reasons to say No! to this development, begins with the fact that the local community is saying No very strongly: “the proposal has no social licence”. 

The company that has applied to build and run the facility, “Cleanaway”, has a “dirty record” and was reported by Australian financial review to be “ASX’s most vulnerable big company”. 

Julie Ahmad, one of the dedicated campaigners and one of the speakers at the forum, offered the audience a list of numbers which demonstrated the magnitude of the impacts of the incinerator on the local community. Her list included: 760,000 tonnes of rubbish to be burned each year (it may be more than this because the caps keep increasing) and 140,740 cubic meters of “bottom ash” would be produced and need further disposal. Julie’s presentation and reasons for being involved were compelling, including health risks from pollutants.

Another speaker, Dr Marion Cincotta, named three areas of negative impact on the health of humans from the identified pollutants: they can cause cancer, respiratory harm and conditions such as diabetes.

It seems the particular toxic effects on soil and plants, including edible plants eg fruit and vegetables grown within the fallout zone, remains unidentified. Based on the cautions directed at home food growers in suburban Melbourne generally ie to check soil for heavy metals and to not actually grow in the soil of one’s back yard, concerns for those who will eat the food grown in the fallout area may be well founded!

In addition, incineration is yet another burning of fossil fuels and would increase emissions responsible for the climate disaster not decrease them. A circular economy produces no waste. A circular economy produces items needed by the community such as food from compost, not more toxic materials!

Bronwyn Halfpenny, Member for Thomastown, who sponsored a petition from the No Incinerator campaign to parliament was present and spoke briefly. Lily D’Ambrosio, Member for Mill Park, who is the Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and resources and Minister for the State Electricity Commission, was present and also spoke briefly. Andrew Giles, Member for Scullin, spoke briefly at the beginning and had to leave.  

Members of the “No incinerator Lara” campaign also attended and shared some of their experience with Wollert.

For more information refer to the submission to EPA Victoria that John Englart and Pauline Galvin wrote on behalf of Climate Action Merri-bek in April last year, and to the No Northern Incinerator Wollert Facebook page.

Blogpost written by Liz Morrigan