19th February, 2025.
It was the announcement that residents of the Southern Highlands, in my electorate of Wollondilly, had been waiting four years for. The adjoining suburb of Moss Vale was the site for proposed plastics recycling plant Plasrefine, a State Significant Development, which threatened to not only pollute the air and waterways but to permanently disturb the tranquil semi-rural lifestyle that the Highlands is known and loved for. And so there was a collective sense of relief - and justice - when the Independent Planning Commission announced that the project was refused consent.
The IPC found that the project was, as the community had long been arguing, deeply flawed in regards to its design, operating procedures and importantly the selected site. The IPC announced their finding on the 24th January that Plasrefine would “unreasonably conflict with other land uses in the area”. These include the Garvan Institute which conducts critical biomedical research, residential homes located 200m away, and business such as a childcare centre a mere 100 or so metres beyond that. The IPC found that significant impacts of noise and vibration during the 24-7 operating hours would be detrimental to the nearby residents and existing adjacent developments, along with traffic impacts of the hundreds of heavy vehicle movements to and from the factory daily and the visual impacts due to the excessive size and bulk of the factory. It also conflicted with the future land use of the surrounding industrial zone which the Wingecarribee Shire Council has designated as the Southern Highlands Innovation Precinct, designed to to attract sustainable and innovative industries.
I am relieved that the IPC came to the same conclusion that the residents have been stating since day one - that this is not the right site. I am thankful to the residents and the action group Moss Vale Matters who took on the mammoth task of proving that the project was wrongly located, and the ICP’s refusal is a prime example of the effectiveness of people power.
Along with relief however, I can’t help but feel a sense of frustration that the project even made it this far. A project so inappropriately huge in scale, so inappropriately located and so potentially damaging, one which Council along with residents opposed with good reasons, should never have made it past the first approval by the Department of Planning. But it did. Because on paper it met the needs of the Government to deal with NSW’s plastic problem.
NSW produces 800,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year, of which 90% currently goes to landfill. Both sides of the Plasrefine debate - those for and those against - agreed that NSW has a plastic problem. This project, however, was never the solution.
And this isn’t just a problem of the current government, plastic didn’t just stockpile in the last 18 months. Previous governments have also failed to address this issue, and their inaction in the past continues to be a problem for us now. We need innovative, real solutions to the problems created by plastic usage. We can’t simply dump our plastic waste in our regional areas, hoping that no one will notice. The residents of the Southern Highlands have proven once again that our regional towns have the courage and insight to stand up for what is right. The incredible dedication of this community cannot be understated, and I would like to acknowledge and thank the community group Moss Vale Matters including members Heidi Fagan, David Baxter, Jean McKern, Bev and Graham Hordern, Vanessa Harcourt, Danuta Hulajko, Sam Sevieri, Skye Pope, Sharan Kennedy, Anna Phillips, Duncan Wood and Derek White; as well as the Wingecarribee Shire Council who stood alongside residents the whole way, along with the newly elected Wingecarribee Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick, Deputy Mayor Erin Foley and Councillors Rachel Russell, Heather Champion and Nicole Smith. And the over 2,900 residents located in Wollondilly and beyond who made verbal and written submissions to the IPC. Without their sustained efforts over the last four years this project would have gone ahead, and we would have all been subjected to the consequences. This is truly a case of people power and I am proud to be able to represent the residents of Wollondilly who have made such a difference.