Major victory for opponents of plan to build $1.5 billion waste incineration project dubbed 'Sydney's dumping ground' in regional Parkes, NSW
The green light comes amid backlash in the regional town of Parkes to a plan to build a $1.5 billion waste facility to transfer 600,000 tonnes of Sydney waste to the town.
Last week two NSW Nationals politicians successfully put forward a motion to the upper house calling for an inquiry into the use of wase incinerators in the state.
"It went really well and across the chamber there was universal approval for this inquiry to go forward - and I'm really appreciative of that collegiate nature that we have had as part of this initiative," Nationals MLC Nichole Overall told Sky News.
The Parkes Energy Recovery facility is set to process 600,000 tonnes of waste into energy each year.
The facility will be the biggest in Australia if approved by the NSW Planning Department.
"A state-of-the-art Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility will use globally proven technology to turn residual material into energy," Parkes Energy Recovery said on their website.
In May 2025, Sky News visited the town of Parkes and spoke to the community about the proposal.
The majority of those spoken to were unhappy with the lack of consultation about the project and concerned about potential health ramifications.
Many wanted to know why they were a dumping ground for Sydney's rubbish.
"Why does almost a million tonnes of Sydney waste per year need to be sent by rail down to our regional areas?" Ms Overall said.
NSW Nationals MLC Scott Barrett, who put forward the motion, recently visited Parkes.
"They are concerned about the impacts this might have on their health, kids and why once again we have to do the heavy lifting in regional NSW," Mr Barrett said.
The Parkes Clean Future Alliance, a local community group, held an evening forum which was attended by about 600 people.
"Too many times we are having to roll out in our regional communities and have town hall meetings, and sign petitions and make a lot of noise, because we are feeling like we are not being listened to and not being heard," Mr Barrett said.
"At the very least, if we are going to do that hard work, we deserve the respect to be consulted on it well before these projects are lumped on us."
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