Bedgerabong and Garema tips will be staffed during limited open hours, while Ootha landfill will be accessible to residents with a key.

The changes to the running of rural landfills were resolved at last week’s council meeting after months of review necessitated by legislative changes.

Director of Environmental Services Paul Bennett put an extensive report to the meeting about the need for changes, options available and community feedback.

The report said neighbouring shires were also reviewing their rural tips – Parkes has already closed two sites - and Forbes also needed to lift its standards. 

“The state of play for solid waste management is changing quite quickly … with much of this being motivated from both a legislative and grants perspective,” the report to council said.

“Compliance for landfill facilities is also becoming more stringent.”

The report says Wirrinya and Bedgerabong landfills have less than 10 years’ capacity remaining, regular dumping of large volumes of commercial, agricultural, construction and demolition wastes at rural sites is compounding the problem. 

Council considered a number of options to control access to the landfills: issuing residents with keys; staffing limited opening hours; or closing the facility and having a bank of bins serviced by a garbage truck.  

While options were found for Ootha, Bedgerabong and Garema, council resolved to close Wirrinya.

That leaves residents to travel to Garema  – the tip is 20km from Wirrinya tip – while it is open on a Wednesday morning or Sunday afternoon. 

Wirrinya tip has been closed since a fire last year and even by February residents were frustrated about the lack of the local service.

They wanted – and got – a meeting with council representatives to discuss their options and two attendees indicated they would support key access for residents. A third requested the facility stay open as is. 

One resident supported closing the facility, expressing concerns about fire, litter and the disposal of chemical drums or asbestos. 

Warroo, which will be ‘mothballed’, will be closed but kept in a condition that it may be operational in future. 

The costs for the varying options ranged from $817,580 to $2.34 million over 10 years.