Dardanup residents angered by rapid landfill growth

Dardanup Residents Association members have outlined a long list of ongoing concerns they believe need to be addressed at Cleanaway’s Banksia Road landfill site.

The association made sure the community was well represented at a special electors meeting last week when close to 300 people packed the town hall.

Committee member Jenny Trigwell said one of the big concerns was the speed at which the landfill site on Banksia Road had grown.

She said residents initially thought it would just be a tip for the Dardanup townsite.

“We’ve always had community concerns about the site,” she said.

“The topography of it above the towns means that easterly and south-easterly winds at this time of the year through autumn and summer blow straight across the town.

“We’re really concerned that if they can’t keep the tailings in damp form to work with them on site, a fine powder will go straight over us and settle on all sorts of areas.”

Association member Russell Sheridan said the community was angry by the amount of municipal rubbish coming to the site from areas in Perth as well the Pilbara, Kalgoorlie and Barrow Island.

“I’ve gone through all the minutes in the structure plan,” Mr Sheridan said.

“We don’t want a highway coming through to the tip, we don’t want rubbish coming from the Pilbara and everywhere else in the State.

“They tell us that everyone generates rubbish and it has to go somewhere, then they say there is a hole here so that's where it went, but now they are building a mountain above the tree line.”

Association member David Birch said over the years it had been proven that controls put in place had not worked.

“Any expansion will only make it worse,” he said.

“It’s just not the right site for it and local knowledge tried to tell them that years ago.

“If they are able to expand to accept lithium tailings things will only get worse for the community.”