evidence-based information providing the facts that Cleanaway doesn’t

The NSW Chief Scientist has advised the Minister for Environment to avoid placing waste incinerators in close proximity to food production areas, citing risks to human health, environmental safety, and agricultural integrity.

Implications for farming land, like our eco certified Scenic Rim

In his words, if an energy from waste incinerator facility is sited near agricultural areas, the implications are:

• Potential contamination of soil, water, and air could affect crop yields, livestock health, and water quality
• Biosecurity risks could impact domestic and international market access
• Community reliance on clean air and water could be compromised, especially in regions with tank water capture systems

It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen, because it’s happened overseas

Threats to our eco-certified Scenic Rim

• Our burgeoning agritourism industry and Scenic Rim brand is at risk
• NSW Chief Scientist’s advice is to avoid placing waste incinerators in close proximity to food production areas
• French health authorities have warned against eating eggs from backyard chickens across a 75-85km radius surrounding their incinerator due to pollution from forever chemicals
• Consider Wyaralong Dam: British Olympic athletes who train at an internationally renowned UK south coast sailing academy have threatened to quit the site over plans to build a £150m waste incinerator next to their base.

Environment

• Facility requires > 500,000 litres of water per day to operate
• Energy from waste is not considered renewable energy
• No sorting means all red bin, commercial and industry waste will be burnt (inc recyclables), and it will predominantly be plastics
• Burning plastics = massive Co2 emissions
• Locks us into waste burning for 30+ years, undermining the success of recycling, reuse and composting industries
• Other regions are banning incinerators, eg ACT, Western Sydney

Traffic and local impacts

• 95m (30 storeys) twin smokestacks seen for miles
• Facility requires 760,000 tonnes of ‘waste’ every year, of which the Scenic Rim produces approx 30,000 tonnes (4%)
• Hundreds of daily heavy vehicle movements, 24/7 on our roads will deliver 730,000 tonnes along the M1, Mount Lindsay Highway, Boonah-Beaudesert Road and Boonah-Ipswich Road.
• More noise, odours, road damage, diesel fumes, and potential accidents
• Real estate values will fall
• Cleanaway does not have social license

Toxic ash and hazardous waste

• One tonne of toxic ash for every four tonnes burned
• Approx 25-30% of incinerated waste is so toxic, it needs encasing in concrete and burying in hazardous waste landfill (potentially Ipswich)
• Contains heavy metals and poisons trucked through our community

Health and air quality

• No technology exists that can capture 100% of toxins
• Releases fine particles, toxic gases, odours, dioxins which accumulate on soils, waterways and rooves
• The inversion layer across the Logan Valley, which can extend to Boonah, is a critical factor in how emissions spread, potentially concentrating toxic materials under or above the layer over a wide area.
• Linked to asthma, cancers, heart and reproductive health issues
• Harms children’s development and puts the elderly at risk

Cleanaway’s Compliance Record

• A documented history of non-compliance with repeated issues managing landfill and recycling sites, workplace bullying and deaths:
• Eight workers have died on Cleanaway’s premises since 2022
• Record held for the highest penalty ever handed down under the QLD EPA for an environmental odour nuisance offence at Ipswich
• Record held for the highest penalty ever of $1.1M imposed under federal work health and safety laws

What’s the alternative ?

• Zero waste legislation
• Mandatory extended producer responsibility scheme
• A robust circular economy embracing tip shops, community recycling spaces, repair, reuse, and composting
• Effective waste education

What can you do ?

• Talk to friends, neighbours, work colleagues and family to let them know about this concentrated toxic waste proposal
• Follow our FB page - No Incinerator for Scenic Rim!
• Email boonahboss@hotmail.com to receive campaign updates
• Sign and share the change.org petition
• Phone and write letters to Scenic Rim Regional Council councillors and the mayor, and to state MP Jon Krause and federal MP Scott Buchholz using sample letters available online
• Read our fact sheets, and other actions you can take
• Get a bumper sticker and/or a button badge
• Send a submission in to the Coordinator General during the public submission period from 1 October to 16 November. This is the legal right to put evidence on the record and must not be missed.
  We have created a webtool and we're preparing sample submissions.
• Join us at the rally on Saturday 10 October at Davidson Park, Beaudesert. Bring your friends and family, signs and your voice.