Residents forced to pay for 'forever chemicals' clean-up at local rubbish tip

The Advertiser

3 days ago

Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia.
But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes.
Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27.
Levels were higher in older people and in males.
But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents.
Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored.
In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year.
The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said.
And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price.
"Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission.
"It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years."
Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle".
He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW.
"The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said.
Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission.
But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS.
It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said.
In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW.
Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag.
"The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote.
NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products.
"I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said.
"PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage."
Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025.
"Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said.
"In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do."
The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025.
Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia.
But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes.
Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27.
Levels were higher in older people and in males.
But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents.
Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored.
In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year.
The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said.
And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price.
"Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission.
"It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years."
Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle".
He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW.
"The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said.
Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission.
But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS.
It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said.
In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW.
Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag.
"The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote.
NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products.
"I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said.
"PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage."
Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025.
"Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said.
"In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do."
The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025.
Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia.
But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes.
Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27.
Levels were higher in older people and in males.
But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents.
Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored.
In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year.
The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said.
And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price.
"Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission.
"It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years."
Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle".
He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW.
"The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said.
Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission.
But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS.
It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said.
In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW.
Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag.
"The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote.
NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products.
"I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said.
"PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage."
Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025.
"Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said.
"In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do."
The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025.
Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia.
But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes.
Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27.
Levels were higher in older people and in males.
But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents.
Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored.
In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year.
The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said.
And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price.
"Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission.
"It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years."
Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle".
He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW.
"The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said.
Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission.
But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS.
It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said.
In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW.
Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag.
"The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote.
NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products.
"I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said.
"PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage."
Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025.
"Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said.
"In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do."
The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025.