3 days ago
NSW floods leave behind mountains of waste across Mid North Coast and Hunter
The record-breaking floods that devastated communities across the NSW Mid North Coast and Hunter regions have left behind mountains of rotting debris.
The Kempsey and Mid Coast councils estimate the disaster has generated more rubbish than they usually collect in a year.
The Mid Coast Council's director of liveable communities, Paul De Szell, said three temporary landfill sites had been created to manage the flood debris.
"The sheer volume of waste is enormous," he said.
"It has affected every industry we have.
NSW Public Works aims to remove 80 per cent of the rubbish within a month, trucking thousands of tonnes from the temporary sites to private and public centres across the state.
But sorting through the waste is every bit as unglamorous as it sounds.
NSW Public Works chief engineer Martin Dwyer said crews had so far disposed of about 1,000 livestock carcasses.
"The people moving the carcasses have hearts of gold; they're really bearing witness to confronting scenes," he said.
"We've been collecting [the carcasses] and transporting a lot of them to Gloucester.
With hazardous waste, including fuel and agricultural chemicals, also in the mix, Mr Dwyer said NSW Public Works was working to ensure recyclable flood debris did not end up in landfills.
"I wouldn't say we're perfect and getting 100 per cent of recyclables recycled, but we're getting a significant proportion," he said.
The Kempsey Shire Council's director of utilities, Wes Trotter, said about 11,000 cubic metres of waste had been removed from Kempsey's CBD and surrounds.
"We've had a massive amount already," he said.
"There are a lot of downriver areas and farmers that have only just been able to get back onto their properties. We're expecting quite a substantial clean-up in those areas."
Mr De Szall said the amount of flood waste collected across the Manning Valley would likely exceed 60,000 tonnes.
He said the council had engaged private contractors to boost the fleet of trucks available, while continuing to provide its usual collection services.
"We're currently looking at 200 tipper truck movements per day to each of our temporary landfill sites," Mr De Szall said.
"The sad thing for us is we'd only just finished repairing everything from the 2021 flood.
"So we're on that cycle again, which is very, very hard … but we're very resilient people in the Manning."
