Greater Shepparton City Council Director Infrastructure, Steve Bowmaker, says the Council has for a number of years been planning the development of the Cosgrove 3 Landfill within an existing unused quarry.
“An integral part of the development of the Cosgrove 3 Landfill was the need to excise the area for the landfill from the quarry area to allow a transition into a modern landfill site,” said Mr Bowmaker.
“It’s been a long process of approximately 8-10 years involving site selection, community consultation, due diligence, business cases, geotechnical and design works,” he said. “With our existing Cosgrove 2 landfill close to capacity it is a significant milestone to have the agreements endorsed by Council.”
“We now have EPA approval and can move into the construction phase of the project. Local residents won’t notice any real difference in operation between Cosgrove 2 and 3. The new site will have less impact visually. We have consulted with local Landcare and environmental groups to ensure the site blends into the local environment,” said Mr Bowmaker.
“The Cosgrove 3 site should be ready for use by July 2018 and has a 45 year lifespan depending on the volume of rubbish going to landfill,” he said. “As the community gets better at recycling and the processing of organic waste increases we expect the volume to reduce over time.’
Cosgrove 3 Project Manager Richard Wheeler from Attero Projects is in charge of managing the construction phase of the new landfill site. “Mr Wheeler is a specialist in the field of landfill design and was engaged to ensure the project runs smoothly,” said Mr Bowmaker.
“Richard is an expert in the latest technology for landfills and has worked in the UK designing landfill sites. He is very knowledgeable of the highly regulated field in which we have to operate so his expertise has ensured the project has run without any major issues.”
Mr Bowmaker said that once the landfill is full in approximately 45 years, the site will be remediated and monitored for a further 30 years.
For more information visit greatershepparton.com.au
