PFAS-CONTAMINATED SOIL —
RED HILL WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY
1504. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the Minister for Environment:
I know the Minister for Environment
has been missing these!
I
refer to soil reportedly contaminated with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances—PFAS—deposited
at the Red Hill Waste Management Facility.
(1) Has any PFAS-contaminated soil
been deposited at the Red Hill Waste Management Facility?
(2) If yes to (1), how much and
when?
(3) If yes to (1), did any of that
soil come from Pearce Air Force base?
(4) If yes to
(1), how did the soil PFAS concentration compare with the spoil removed from
the Forrestfield–Airport Link project?
(5) If yes to
(1), why was that material deemed a waste material and sent to landfill when
the FAL spoil was defined by its owner, the Public Transport Authority, as not
a waste?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(4) The
Red Hill Waste Management Facility's Environmental Protection Act 1986
licence authorises it to accept solid waste impacted by PFAS in accordance with
specified landfill acceptance criteria. The Department of Water and
Environmental Regulation does not hold specific information on the quantity or
source of PFAS-impacted solid waste accepted for burial at the facility.
(5) In accordance with the Department of Water and
Environmental Regulation ''Factsheet—Assessing Whether
Material is Waste'', it is the responsibility of the person in
possession of material to determine whether it is waste.