Locals have vented their frustration over a horrible smell emanating from a rubbish site, saying their lives have been turned into a living hell.
Tamala Park Waste Facility, in northwest Perth, has become the target of public backlash as excess liquid waste, known as leachate, builds up.
The amount is now estimated to be enough to fill almost 167 Olympic-sized swimming pools, with locals claiming management has failed to adequately protect the surrounding community from the smell.
‘The odour is making their lives hell, and the ground contamination is a concern,’ resident Mary O’Bryne told 9News.
The landfill site has been operating for 35 years and handles roughly a third of Perth’s household waste from seven councils.
‘The disgusting odour from the tip cannot be healthy,’ another resident said in a Facebook group that has hundreds of followers who have been campaigning for the facility’s closure for the past two years.
Residents finally received a breakthrough on Tuesday when the City of Perth, one of seven councils that use the site, announced it would ask the state government for help to safely close the waste facility.
The landfill is currently expected to reach the end of its operational life around 2028, but the excessive buildup of liquid waste remains a major concern for residents and local politicians, who want it closed sooner.
Tamala Park landfill is causing a stench for residents in Perth
The rubbish site is situated between residential areas and continues to expand
City of Perth councillors voted to ask Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds to push the state government for a ‘balanced regulatory response’ to help develop a practical pathway for closing Tamala Park.
They also backed plans to monitor the landfill’s closure, leachate management, impact on the community and financial costs, with regular updates provided to councillors.
Suzanne Thompson, who lives in Joondalup, just 7km from the facility, said nearby residents are aware they live close to a landfill and ‘no one expects it to smell like roses’, but they do expect greater protection from the government.
‘Western Australian landfills are licensed and regulated with the expectation that they must manage odour, leachate, landfill gas and other emissions so they do not cause unreasonable impacts beyond the site boundary,’ she said.
A council report found there is far more liquid waste at the landfill than previously thought, with the amount increasing from about 417,000 cubic metres to 2.07million cubic metres – around two billion litres.
Without measures in place to remove the leachate, the amount is expected to continue rising.
The Mindarie Regional Council, which runs the facility, was handed an Environmental Protection Notice on August 3 over the issue.
In the notice, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation said the landfill is causing pollution through odours that are affecting nearby residents.
The City of Perth will ask the state government for a practical pathway to close the facility (pictured)
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It also raised concerns that leachate could be contaminating groundwater around the site.
The notice requires the council to provide a report detailing the amount of leachate at the site and how it will be removed within 30 days.
Treating and removing the excess liquid waste could ultimately cost the council and its member councils hundreds of millions of dollars, according to an assessment by Mindarie Regional Council.
‘Given the current leachate estimate is materially higher, those historical estimates should not be directly extrapolated,’ the report said.
‘It is nevertheless reasonable to conclude that a large-scale off-site program could expose Mindarie Regional Council and its member councils to costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars.’
Daily Mail contacted Mindarie Regional Council for comment.
