Almost 1000 complaints about "dreadful" waste odours, chemical pollution and waste dumping in Swanbank in the past six months have been made by Ipswich residents, yet the city’s council and the Queensland government are still assessing a new waste dump, a large expansion to an existing dump and a new waste-to-energy incinerator, all at Swanbank.
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There have already been 30 public submissions made to Ipswich City Council on the new Swanbank super-dump application by the BMI Group.
Ninety-four inspections of Swanbank businesses were completed in six months by the new Odour Abatement Taskforce and 12 businesses were fined or had their permits cancelled.
The Queensland government set up the "odour-busters" office in Redbank Plains in July 2018 as public pressure intensified to stop waste coming interstate from NSW.
Figures from July 2018 to January 12, 2019, show 935 complaints were lodged and investigated by the Queensland’s Odour Abatement Taskforce during that period.
More than 91 per cent of the complaints are about odours, with 80 per cent of the smells coming from the city’s waste dumps which are still receiving waste from NSW.
It will earn between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion a year.
There were also 16 complaints about smells from chemical solvents (1.87 per cent) and 25 complaints about smells from effluent and sewage (2.93 per cent).
Most of the complaints are directed to industries in the Swanbank Industrial Park but come from nearby residential suburbs – Collingwood Park, Redbank Plains, Blacksoil, Bundamba, Raceview, Flinders View and Ripley – which now ring the industrial park.
Ipswich City Council is now assessing a new super dump at Swanbank by the BMI Group and an extension to Cleanway’s existing landfill, also at Swanbank.
The Queensland government is also promoting German waste-to-energy company Remondis' bid to build a $400 million plant in Swanbank.
Remondis has its Australian headquarters in Sydney.
It already operates a small renewable energy and waste facility on Swanbank Road.
In theory, the Swanbank plant could generate enough electricity from waste to power 50,000 homes.
Ipswich City Council has not seen any application by Remondis, despite announcements the plant would be operating by 2020.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington questioned whether local and state authorities were listening to residents.
"There is no point taxing Queenslanders to the tune of $1.3 billion when Labor keep approving and expanding super dumps," Ms Frecklington said.
"I can understand why local residents are upset and they don’t want their neighbourhood being the state’s dumping ground.
"While the council and the state government point the finger at the other, the concerns of local residents are being ignored."
A spokeswoman for the Department of State Development said Remondis recently submitted its application to Queensland's Co-ordinator General, Barry Broe.
The project concept is not yet on the Co-ordinator General's website.
"Remondis have submitted an application to Queensland’s independent Co-ordinator General to declare the project a co-ordinated project," the spokeswoman said.
"The advice is that this application is now being considered. Any development application would follow this process."
It is understood at this point the development application would go to Ipswich council.
State Development Minister Cameron Dick announced new 750-metre-wide buffer zones around Swanbank and other Ipswich industrial areas in August 2018 to try to protect residents from noxious industries.
Ipswich's interim administrator Greg Chemello said the city's residents were tired of being associated with waste dumps.
“Since arriving at council, I have become acutely aware that waste is one of the city’s big issues,” Mr Chemello said.
“I am also acutely aware that the people of Ipswich don’t want their city to be known as a dump site,” he said.
“The state government is also aware of this.”
Mr Chemello said the city wanted to move towards recycling and would soon call a tender for a recycling program involving neighbouring councils.
Mr Chemello said Ipswich City Council was legally bound to consider all development applications, including landfills.
Long-serving Bundamba Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller said the number of complaints did not surprise her at all.
“Over the years there would have been tens of thousands of complaints lodged over many, many years,” Ms Miller said.
“It has only been in the last few months any action has been taken,” she said.
She said residents wanted “recalcitrant companies” charged and new dumps rejected.
“Our local community has made it clear that they want no new dumps,” she said.
“They want no expansion of existing dumps either and they do not want incinerators locally either.”
Ipswich Labor MP Jennifer Howard said the Swanbank smells – which she suspected may also come from Swanbank mulching businesses – were "dreadful" for residents in Ripley and Flinders View.
But she said waste businesses were a big employer in Ipswich.
"My personal view is that we have a waste industry in Ipswich. Around one in every 165 jobs in Ipswich is connected to the waste industry," Ms Howard said.
"So I am not calling for any businesses to be shut down," she said.
"But I do understand there is a better way to manage waste and I want to support those businesses to do that."
In the past six months, Environment Department staff have made 52 "unplanned" inspections of businesses within Swanbank Industrial Park and 42 "planned" inspections.
Twelve businesses have been either fined, or had their permits suspended or cancelled.
Another 17 businesses have been advised their activities include alleged offences against the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and have received written warnings.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story said the 30 public submissions were directed to the new buffer zone trials. The 30 submissions concerned BMI's application for a new dump at Swanbank.
