THE City of Wanneroo is working with other Mindarie Regional Council member councils to transition the disposal of residual municipal waste to the Kwinana waste-to-energy plant ahead of the Tamala Park landfill facility reaching the end of its life, according to a Town of Victoria Park June 2 agenda briefing report.
The Mindarie Regional Council (MRC) is responsible for managing the disposal of residual municipal waste on behalf of its member councils of Stirling, Wanneroo, Joondalup, Vincent, Perth, Cambridge and Victoria Park.
The Town of Victoria Park agenda briefing report said in late 2021 the MRC chief executive officer started to investigate opportunities to dispose of residual municipal waste through waste-to-energy plants as means to find a suitable alternative to Tamala Park and assist member councils to achieve the state’s waste target which targeted 99 per cent of residual waste being diverted away from landfill and recovered for reuse.
This week both the City of Wanneroo and the Town of Victoria Park went into confidential sessions to discuss the MRC waste-to-energy tender.
But unlike the City of Wanneroo the Town of Victoria Park only redacted a legal advice summary so its residents and ratepayers have some idea of what their local government is planning.
The Town of Victoria Park report said, as all member councils were aware, it was anticipated the Tamala Park site would reach capacity in 2028-29 and the site would cease to operate as a landfill.
An officer’s report presented to the Town of Victoria Park council recommends that councillors note the decision for the MRC to enter into the waste supply agreement with Kwinana WTE Project Co (as trustee of the Kwinana WTE Project Trust) and the decision for the MRC to enter into the financier side deed with Kwinana WTE Project Co and BTA Institutional Services Australia Limited.
The recommendation to go before the councillors includes that the council agrees to enter into a participant’s agreement with the MRC for the provision of waste-to-energy services, agrees to enter into a side letter with Kwinana WTE Project Co (as trustee of the Kwinana WTE Project Trust) and each other MRC member council, agrees to the Town of Victoria Park chief executive officer providing the MRC with a member council waste-to-energy approval letter and authorise the chief executive officer to do all things necessary to enable the execution of a final participant’s agreement and accompanying side letter agreement on behalf of the town.
The Town of Victoria Park councillors are due to vote on the item at their June 16 ordinary meeting while the City of Wanneroo meet again on June 23.
In April of this year, member councils were presented with a near final draft of a suite of documents that make up the agreements that underpin the transition to waste-to-energy,’’ the Town of Victoria Park report said.
But since the item was first bought to the council in November 2022, the suite of documents required to enact the waste supply agreement have changed.
“Further, the basis of engagement has changed to the affect that once Tamala Park landfill is no longer a disposal mechanism, these agreements contemplate that the MRC will no longer be the contracting entity, but rather the Town (of Victoria Park) will be required (as will other member councils), to enter into agreements with the waste-to-energy provider on substantially the same basis and the obligations and rights contained in the additional documents that require execution (e.g. the side letter) reinforce existing obligations and are not necessarily wholesale changes.
“While containing long term rights and obligations, these are not inherently unacceptable or adverse changes but rather promote certainty into the future regarding this process.
“That said, officers have assessed that the previous authorisations to the mayor and the CEO from council resolution 244/2022 are no longer adequate.
“This being so, it is recommended that the appropriate authorisations detailed in the above recommendation are put in place to allow expedient and timely decision making and final execution.”
The report said careful but timely endorsement by member councils was required, as any delay in decision-making could impact the MRC’s ability to proceed and impede the town’s cost certainty around residual municipal waste disposal options.
The “timely” endorsement required from member councils could explain why the City of Wanneroo opted at its May 26 meeting to vote against a petition requesting the halt or delay of all approval, funding and progression of the Neerabup resource recovery precinct (NRRP) until full environmental, health and financial due diligence had been completed by independent experts and released publicly for community review.
When voting against the NRRP petition deputy mayor Paul Miles said the petition called for the halting of all the approvals and that was what they could not agree with.
The original version of the NRRP included as its highest priority an estimated $750 incinerator to be paid for by private industry but the latest version does not provide any approvals for the delivery of such a facility and said the city did not expect waste-to-energy to be considered for 10 to 15 years based on required tonnages of waste for commercial viability.
Meanwhile, the petition tabled in the Legislative Council about the proposed NRRP is open until July 3.
