Heidi Kraak
Australian Paper’s proposed Energy from Waste facility has drawn mixed reactions from the community following an EPA submissions evening calling for community feedback on the project, held in Traralgon last week.
Latrobe Valley Sustainability Group secretary Dan Caffrey supported the facilty with conditions.
“I think the technology is sound; I believe we won’t get the air pollution some people are worried about,” he said.
“It won’t affect water and we see it operating in Europe so successfully … I think there is a certain amount of confidence we can do the same here.
“I think some of the issues around sorting the rubbish, if you get too much pollutant, such as mercuries … going into it we may have a problem. I think those issues need to be addressed as well.”
Mr Caffrey said he did not represent all the views of the sustainability group as some members felt the project promotes the harvesting of native timber forest for pulp and others believe it does not promote a circular economy.
“Otherwise it would be good for jobs, it would be good for confidence in the area. We could have a plantation industry around that, so there is further jobs feeding off that,” he said.
“I think there is a lot to be said for it.”
Latrobe Health Assembly executive officer Ian Needham said the assembly did not have a formal position on the proposed facility, but community members had contacted the assembly with concerns about potential long-term health implications.
“Long-term health impacts [need to be] identified and studied and probably independently studied and have some understanding of, if this was to go ahead, is there any long-term potential health impacts from this sort of proposal?” he said.
“The sad reality is, the average life expectancy of people in the Latrobe Valley is actually a bit lower than the state average.
“So things that have occurred 20 or 30 years ago are only now becoming obvious … and that needs to be studied and investigated properly before we have this sort of thing taking place.”
National Timber Council Association national co-ordinator Sandy Kam said she was satisfied the proposal would be an appropriate alternative source of energy for the Maryvale Mill.
“What we are looking at is if we can find alternative energy source is more appropriate to keep their costs down to keep their business viable, as a major employer in the area to keep them operating because they have an acute impact not only in our region here but it is the biggest mill in the southern hemisphere,” Ms Kam said.
“We are promoting it for two reasons. One because of local government, not only about having landfill, how much money goes into landfill and then the rehabilitation of landfills … and that is a huge expense and it just keeps increasing with standards constantly changing.
“From a timber perspective … [it] is value-adding to an industry but also into an economy, which, if we are looking at our environment is a better way to go.”
