A decision on Weston Aluminium’s application to process pharmaceutical and illicit drug waste at its Kurri Kurri site is expected this week.
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Weston Aluminium applied to the Department of Planning and Environment for approval to trial the processing of waste from medical centres, government pharmaceutical collection schemes and illicit drugs seized by police.
The application was backed by the NSW Police Force and approval would see Weston Aluminium become the second licensed plant in the state for this type of processing.
The NSW Police Force collects an estimated 50 tonnes of illicit drug waste every year through confiscation and evidentiary materials.
Government and medical agencies collect a further 5000 tonnes of pharmaceutical waste.
Approval of the trial would allow the Kurri Kurri business to legally tap into these income streams.
The department received three public submissions from residents opposed to the application.
Most of the submissions were concerned about the processing plant’s proximity to residential areas.
“As a resident of Kurri Kurri and a retired industrial instrument technician with wide process control experience, I am well aware Weston Aluminium is too close to residential areas and has in the past polluted those areas,” resident Col Maybury wrote.
“Their application to burn in furnaces, designed to reduce dross, drugs and pharmaceuticals is in my opinion incorrect and could be dangerous to residents.”
A response from Weston Aluminium said the plant had operated responsibly in the heavy industrial zoned area of Kurri Kurri for more than 18 years and would continue to do so.
“Weston Aluminium is confident that existing systems of ventilation and emission capture are more than adequate to treat all likely process emissions,” the company said in a statement.
One of the submissions was concerned about the increased traffic through the village of Weston, but a response from the plant said its traffic movements had been in decline since the Global Financial Crisis.
Cessnock City Council made a submission to the department that called into question the amount of drug waste to be processed at the site.
Weston Aluminium initially applied to process up to 1000 tonnes of pharmaceutical waste and 1000 tonnes of illicit drug waste during the two-year trial.
After meetings with the council, this had since been revised from 1000 down to 200 tonnes of illicit drug waste.
The Environmental Protection Authority did not object to the trial or the variation to Weston Aluminium’s environmental licence.