"If we don't want this, we have to fight."
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Those were the concluding remarks of Moss Vale resident Sam Jones at the end of the community engagement meeting for the proposed Plasrefine facility.
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Mr Jones was one of the 200-strong crowd of residents in attendance at the meeting hosted by GHD on behalf of Plasrefine on Thursday, November 18.
"We have to fight, we don't want this. We need to be prepared to step up as residents," he said.
"I don't want this in my backyard, near my children."
Mr Jones, a school teacher, later told the Southern Highland News that he was a passionate local against the proposal who went to the meeting "to listen respectfully."
"I've been here all my life," he said.
"This kind of development is completely inappropriate and should be in an industrial zone."
The highly contentious meeting was dogged with concerns regarding air quality, odour, environmental impacts, traffic, and roads.
Community activist Heidi Fagan said she had several concerns, including access to Beaconsfield Road, the construction of a new east-west road, and traffic management.
"What concerns me, and everyone else is once they have access to Beaconsfield Road, they will never be done with it," she said.
"They'll just keep running their facilities on there.
"The consensus here is that we don't want it. There was a lot of dissension here, a lot of frightened people."
Ms Fagan said the traffic impacts were incredibly concerning.
"I know they are assuring us that the trucks will use a designated route; the question is who enforces that?" she said
"The other examples of plastic recycling facilities that they have given are in designated industrial areas. They aren't 200 metres away from people's homes.
"They've got to expect people to be worried, they've got to expect people to be frightened and it's very distressing.
"People are tired. They've spent 11 years battling Hume Coal and this is just something else."
David Baxter, who lives on Beaconsfield Road close to the proposed site, also held traffic concerns.
"Why would they build the new road if they are going to widen Beaconsfield Road and spend money on it," he said.
"They said they would widen the road from the verge - that would affect me. I don't want that."
Mr Baxter had previously shared his concerns regarding the height of the building.
A GHD spokesperson said the building would be anywhere between 11 and a half metres and 16 metres tall, and the highest point would be 18 metres.
The proposal included plans to landscape the area using native trees.
In a previous meeting on Wednesday, November 10, GHD project director David Gamble said the building would follow the contour of the land.
"As the building moves north, it will be stepped down to reduce the visual impact," he said.
The proposed site for the recycling facility is 74-76 Beaconsfield Road, Moss Vale.
A planning scope was put forward by engineering firm GHD to the State Government on behalf of Plasrefine Recycling in September 2020.
According to the Plasrefine Recycling Environment Impact Statement report, the facility would extract mixed plastics from waste, sort the plastics into different types, and convert the various plastics into pellets.
"The combined outputs of stages one and two of the proposal would help fill the gap in local processing capacity for mixed plastics, which have historically been exported to China and other countries or have been landfilled with other wastes," the report read.
"The plant would be available to receive mixed plastics from various waste and recycling collection companies, material recovery facilities (MRF), and recycling plant operators.
"The range of plastics processed and the overall quantities of each type of plastics recovered would depend upon demand and market requirements.
"The facility would have an ultimate capacity to receive up to 150,000 tonnes per annum of waste plastics and wastes containing plastics, from which approximately 120,000 tonnes per annum of mixed plastics would be extracted and processed."
The environmental impact statement will be submitted at the end of 2021 and will go on public exhibition in early 2022.
No one from Plasrefine was in attendance.
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Vera Demertzis
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
