By Laura Michell
Operators of the Wollert tip have been given the green light to run the landfill 24 hours a day.
Whittlesea council has agreed to amend the tip’s permit, allowing Hanson Landfill Services to accept commercial waste 24 hours a day. There will be no change to public hours.
Currently, the landfill operates from 7am-6pm Monday to Saturday and 8am-6pm on Sundays and public holidays. Commercial customers can use the tip 3am-6pm daily.
The changes will allow the tip to remain open to commercial customers between 6pm and 3am.
Hanson Landfill Services has also been given approval to upgrade and relocate the site’s waste transfer station, with the new facility to be built in the south-eastern pocket of the tip site, 25 metres from Bridge Inn Road.
The application to change the tip’s operating hours received objections from eight residents who predominantly raised concerns about the adverse impact of the site operating all day.
Residents are concerned the increased operating hours will result in additional noise from trucks and machinery, as well as headlights shining through their windows throughout the night.
In a bid to address residents’ concerns, councillors requested that a barrier be installed adjacent to the northern and eastern boundaries of the landfill area to prevent disturbances to residents.
They also prohibited the movement of landfill material and the use of landfill machinery on any part of the site within 200 metres of a boundary before 7am and after 6pm Monday to Saturday, and all day on Sundays.
Cr Tom Joseph said the permit conditions were aimed at ensuring surrounding properties didn’t “pay a high price for having a tip in their backyard”.
Councillors Norm Kelly, Ricky Kirkham and Alahna Desiato opposed the permit being amended, with Cr Kelly saying the tip had been the subject of numerous complaints over the years.
“I’d be happy to see the landfill go elsewhere,” he said.
