During 2021, West Coast Council set out to upgrade the Zeehan landfill and construct a new leachate wetlands, Zeehan Landfill and Wetlands Project. This project would see the rejuvenation of the existing landfill and vastly delaying its impending decommissioning, keeping services and jobs locally on the West Coast.
The Zeehan landfill is the only landfill within the West Coast and has been operating for almost 50 years. However, the landfill was coming close to end of life and with no works undertaken, would have seen the landfill be decommissioned in 2028. Many avenues were assessed as to what the future of waste management on the West Coast would look like and considered costs not only to Council, but also to residents of the region, the affected workforce, associated industries and the economic growth.
Without this project, Council would have had to decommission the landfill, organise transport of all waste from each towns waste transfer station to Zeehan landfill, and then organise further transport to either Port Latta or Dulverton. Both facilities are over 150km away, meaning large transport costs, loss of local jobs and the large environmental toll from the continual movement of trucks needed to remove the waste. Staff working in the landfill, but also in roles relating to landfill, such as waste truck drivers, would have been made redundant as the works would be contracted out to a third party. Without this project, there would be no landfill operators, no waste truck drivers, no need for a full-time mechanic to maintain the waste management fleet and Council would be forced to offload its waste management fleet and machinery at a financial loss.
Through the consultation stage, Council was able to obtain plans to not only redevelop the site to extend its life, but also add in a new multi-stage Leachate Wetland Treatment System. The new wetland system allows for greater and more natural processing of leachate and water runoff, ensuring the water that is then released into the Little Henty River is much safer ecologically.
The community benefit from this includes staff retention at the Zeehan landfill past 2028, there is not the ongoing future financial burden on residents of waste being transported out of the West Coast to other waste management centres, the roads are not degraded by the spike in heavy traffic needing to enter and leave the West Coast, and the environment and wildlife does not suffer from the continuous movement of trucks.
The long-term benefits include Council being able to continue to employ local existing staff at the landfill, driving waste trucks, employment opportunities for fleet mechanics, and office support staff, as well as recruitment of new employees as the work at the landfill grows. This allows people and families to move and to stay on the West Coast with long term employment opportunities and reflects Council’s vision of the West Coast being a place to live, work and play. Long term costs to transport waste to a facility outside of the West Coast are estimated to be $200,000-$300,000 per annum. While the project came with its own expenses, the long-term financial benefits to residents is significantly greater than if the landfill was decommissioned and waste management was contracted and moved out of the West Coast.
The short-term benefits include the new and state of the art Leachate Wetland Treatment System, which also allows for more thorough processing of leachate to improve the quality of run off back into the Little Henty River. This will also continue to benefit the local environment in the long term. Services can remain on the West Coast, enabling local businesses to continue trade without having to seek assistance from other waste management service providers, allowing jobs to be made and stay local. The contracted employment generated from the project allowed for 20-30 out-of-area workers to live and work on the West Coast for the duration of the project. This aided significantly in boosting the West Coast economy with accommodation, shopping and tourism events for the duration of the project.
The innovative approach of using the three wetland-style leachate cell processing, as opposed to the previous two cell leachate management, allows for cleaner by product benefitting the surrounding environment and wildlife. The new wetland-style system allows for the processing of 23 megalitres of water per year. With the site being disconnected from services, including power, water and sewerage, the new cells have been designed to be able to filter through substrate and into the next cell solely on gravity. This has alleviated the need for extensive works to bring power to the remote site. The existing two cells will gravity feed into the new three cells, allowing for all five cells to work in conjunction with each other to provide the best possible water output.
Currently the wetland-style approach is only utilised by the West Coast Council and Burnie Council. Other Councils would benefit from this approach to further reduce any damage to the environment across the state and make the waste management industry much more sustainable and future proof.
West Coast Council was happy to be able to complete this project in late 2023, to assist not only the environment, but its residents in providing the best possible avenues for the future.