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ABC News
5 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
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."
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘All sorts of bacteria': floods have dumped a year's worth of landfill on some NSW towns. Where will it go?
In a large field by the Taree greyhound track stands a huge pile of waterlogged and mud-caked waste, pulled from houses and businesses inundated by last week's massive floods. Among the mound are couches, fridges and piles and piles of broken furniture. The heap represents the heartache and damage of the floods – people's treasured possessions, and equipment they used to make their livelihoods. But it also presents a logistical challenge for the community: what to do with thousands of tonnes of ruined furniture, broken electricals, silt-filled kitchen units and sodden, mould-breeding carpet? By the time the cleanup is done, an estimated 60,000 tonnes of waste generated by the floods will end up in landfill, says Paul De Szell, liveable communities director for MidCoast council, which includes Taree, Wingham and other flood-affected communities. For context, De Szell says, the amount sent to landfill each year for the entire council area – which covers many communities not hit by the recent floods – is 50,000-60,000 tonnes. 'If you put a year of landfill in one month, the system doesn't function.' This is where the giant pile of waste at the Taree greyhound track comes in. It is one of several temporary transfer stations set up to get flood waste off the streets, where residents are leaving it for kerbside collection, and away from residential areas altogether. The waste is moved from the temporary stations by the NSW Public Works department to a larger site. There, the waste is sorted to recover and recycle as much as possible, and then moved out of the MidCoast local government area and put into landfill in surrounding areas. In the first five days of recovery, about 18,000 cubic metres of flood debris were transported to landfills and temporary waste storage sites, according to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA). 'NSW Public Works are looking after the large main site, they'll take it out of the area at no cost to MidCoast council. We couldn't handle the sheer volume of waste in the area,' says David Rees, manager of waste services for the council. This waste management plan, developed after the 2021 floods, was put into action last week. As soon as the flood waters subsided, the council sent out nearly 70 heavy vehicles – excavators, bobcats, compact trucks and bogie tippers (dump trucks) – to collect waste left out on the kerbs in flood-hit towns. 'The main purpose is human health – to get stuff away from people's properties, that has a huge impact on their mental health too,' says Rees. 'We've already got the bulk of waste out of the Taree CBD and we'll continue to do laps there to make sure it's clear.' 'We've collected a lot of waste over the last week,' says De Szell. 'We've focused on CBD areas in Taree and Wingham, those are essentially cleared and residential waste in Wingham is essentially cleared. 'But we go in a cycle: we know people will have to remove linings in buildings, carpets that will be wet and are going to have mould – we'll go back to make sure every last bit of waste as a result of this flood is removed.' While De Szell says it is likely to take months to remove all the waste, getting material out and away from homes as soon as possible is more urgent. Authorities are 'very conscious of the social impact and the psychological impact,' he says, as well as physical risks. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email '[The waste] is wet, it starts to smell. There's all sorts of bacteria that exists in that flood waste so it's very important to get that waste off the ground as soon as possible.' The EPA says one of its key priorities is the disposal of animal carcasses – 1,200 of which have been reported to the Animal and Agriculture hotline so far, with that number expected to grow significantly. The EPA says it is working closely with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to identify disposal sites. Another of the challenges the waste management team faces is the volume of silt and mud swept into properties by the flood. De Szell says his team is still in discussions with the state government to figure out what to do with it. 'Our focus at the moment is taking material cleared out of houses so they can become habitable again. 'We don't want to have an even greater housing crisis than we already have on the mid-coast. We want to have the houses cleared out, washed out, made safe so people can rebuild their lives.'
