WASTE TO ENERGY —
RESIDUAL WASTE
90. Hon ROBIN CHAPPLE to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to page 29 of the ''Waste
Strategy 2030: Western Australia's Waste Strategy'' and
objective 2, ''Recover'', which states —
� material recovery is preferred over
energy recovery. Energy recovery is preferable to landfill disposal but should
only be applied to residual waste once better practice source separation
approaches have been exhausted.
(1) Were ''better
practice source separation approaches'' exhausted before the $68 million
waste-to-energy plant in Kwinana was approved?
(2) If yes to (1), will the minister
explain how?
(3) If no to (1), will the minister
revoke the approval for the waste-to-energy plant in Kwinana?
(4) If no to (3), why not?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(4) The
Kwinana waste-to-energy project was approved under the previous government in
September 2015, prior to the recent release of the ''Waste Strategy 2030''
in February 2019.
On 14 November 2017, I asked the
Environmental Protection Authority to inquire into how implementation
conditions relating to approved waste-to-energy proposals should be changed to
restrict the waste feedstock to genuinely residual waste, in accordance with
the waste hierarchy under section 5 of the Waste Avoidance and Resource
Recovery Act 2007. This request is currently being finalised in consultation
with affected parties.