Shire gives first tick to waste facility

A new liquid waste facility in Mt Barker could be up and running within three months after planning consent was granted at a Shire of Plantagenet council meeting last week.

The council passed a motion allowing the proposal, made by Great Southern Liquid Waste, subject to environmental conditions.

The proposed facility has a capacity of up to 10 million litres of liquid waste annually, with a projection to collect waste from a host of shires in the Great Southern including Plantagenet, Denmark and Cranbrook.

A GSLW spokeswoman said the new facility would meet Department of Environmental Regulation standards.

“We are currently finalising the DER works approval and licence conditions and hope to have the works approval in place within the next fortnight,” she said.

“Construction on the facility will start as soon as this occurs and the facility will be operational as soon as the DER issues the licence.

“We hope to be fully functional to accept waste into the plant within 10-12 weeks.”

The spokeswoman said it was pleasing to gain planning consent.

“It will enable us to provide a more cost-efficient option to our customers once the facility is operational,” she said.

“This is the first phase of a new chapter for our business that will focus on treatment and recycling opportunities.

“The Pile Road liquid waste treatment facility is just one of a number of new paths that we are navigating that will incorporate a complete approach to water and wastewater treatment and recycling.”