March 8th, 2024Council acts to minimise enviro impacts around Eaglehawk landfill site

The City of Greater Bendigo Council last week adopted a planning scheme amendment introducing a buffer overlay around Eaglehawk Landfill to minimise future environmental impacts.

Eaglehawk Landfill is over 40 years old and remains one of the few landfills in Victoria located in an urban area with established residential, commercial, and industrial land uses within close proximity to the site.

The City commissioned an environmental audit in response to Environment Protection Authority (EPA) guidelines Best Practice Environmental Management – Siting, design, protection, operation, and rehabilitation of landfills 2015.  

The guidelines require local governments to carefully consider any potential offsite environmental impacts of a landfill before approving new uses or development within a landfill buffer area. 

The Amendment implements the findings and recommendations of the Buffer Risk Assessment for Eaglehawk Landfill, AECOM, 2019 (the Buffer Risk Assessment) and Section 53V Audit of Risk of Harm – Landfill Buffer Eaglehawk Landfill.

Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said the council recognised the importance of implementing a buffer overlay.

“The landfill is actively managed by the City of Greater Bendigo under strict licence conditions, including the management of waste to reduce odour, regular gas monitoring and extraction,” Cr Metcalf said.

“A buffer overlay plays a key role because decomposition can generate landfill gas for more than 30 years after a landfill stops accepting new waste.

“To minimise any potential impacts from the landfill, the audit recommended planning controls within 500 metres of the landfill site to manage any potential risk of landfill gas migration and to manage off-site odour impacts from the transfer station where activities are expected to continue as a waste and recovery hub.”

Following a six week public consultation, Amendment C242gben was referred to an independent planning panel.

It concluded the amendment was strategically sound and should be supported subject to minor changes to the schedules for the Buffer Area Overlay. These were intended to improve the clarity of the controls and make them easier to apply. 

The adopted amendment affects 276 properties that are in close proximity to the landfill and the transfer station on the site.