A potential waste-to-energy plant in council’s designated industrial precinct could help solve Geelong’s landfill problems, according to Mayor Bruce Harwood.
Cr Harwood floated the Geelong Ring Road Employment Precinct (GREP) as a location for the “high-tech” plant at a media briefing on Wednesday.
“We cannot continue to put waste in the ground, letting that contaminate the soils and (leak) into the waterways,” he said.
The proximity of heavy industry and the ability to link in a plant with the grid made GREP a great location, Cr Harwood said.
“But again there are buffer zones and community issues to deal with.”
He made the comments ahead of talks on waste disposal with Wyndham and Ballarat councils in coming weeks.
Earlier this month Wyndham council flagged working with Geelong and Ballarat to build a $320 million waste-to-energy plant in Werribee.
“We’re having discussions on how a waste to energy plant might look in the west of Melbourne,” Cr Harwood said.
“We haven’t actually put a pin in the map by any stretch of the imagination.”
The talks were preliminary but moving quickly due to a “final time frame” on landfill at Drysdale, Cr Harwood said.
An international company would design a potential plant, Cr Harwood said.
“There have been a couple of companies that we’ve been taking advice from.”
But the construction and maintenance of the plant would create local jobs, he added.
