The new East Gungahlin High School will have the Mitchell tip as its nearest neighbour for years, with the ACT government going to tender on a project management model which will keep the existing resource management site operating for more than a decade.
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A study released last year explored a number of relocation options for the Mitchell Resource Management Centre but came up with no ideal site.
The proposal now is to deliver a "staged approach" which looks at improving the facilities already there, and figuring out how it could still operate successfully and safely with the new high school at Kenny just a stone's throw away and due to open next year.
The ACT has some of the highest recycling rates in the country but the territory's volume of waste keeps on growing.
The Parkwood Road green waste facility is on borrowed time, while the big fire which gutted the Hume recycling plant in late December has further increased the pressure.
The five alternative sites identified in the 2022 Cardno report found no ideal alternative for the existing Mitchell location.
They either conflicted with future residential development plans, environmental values, or were too steep, too small, had poor public access or were high quality habitat for native species such as the superb parrot.
A couple of likely options were floated, including a site off Stockdill Drive - which has had its green waste development proposal knocked back - and another down near the Lower Molonglo water treatment plant.
But while these longer-term plans are being worked through, the government has little option but to make more efficient use of the Mitchell site.
However the heavy machinery required for crushing and sorting waste, together with possible associated residue discharges, noise and odour, makes it a difficult and awkward "neighbour" for ACT Education.
The current site, despite sitting in a prime location for redevelopment right on the Gungahlin light rail corridor, will remain a going concern for the ACT's waste disposal for at least a decade and possibly longer.
As described in the project brief for the site's management tender released on Thursday by the Major Projects Canberra, the goal now to develop a feasibility study to upgrade the site "improve the function of the existing Mitchell Rescource Management Centre" and "improve the relationship with the surrounding urban development in particular the East Gungahlin School".
Managing waste in a conventional sense requires a big "footprint" of land because of the need for heavy machinery - including B Double semi-trailer access - significant storage capability, and easy access and egress.
About 60 per cent of the Mitchell site is currently used but some clever solutions will need to be developed to allow it to continue "to enable safe, efficient service to the community, improved resource recovery outcomes in the context of a highly urbanised environment", the tender documents described.
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The tender is seeking a consultant to head up "a suitably experienced, qualified and certified multi-disciplinary team that comprises resources essential to delivering this project".
Devising ways of making the site less of an eyesore through landscaping, and containing the machinery noise would be seen as essential.
A major safety consideration for all resource management centres now is that of fires caused by cheap or broken lithium-ion vaping tubes, e-scooter batteries and e-bikes.
While the cause is officially undisclosed, experienced firefighters who fought the Hume Materials Recovery Centre fire late last year strongly suspected it had been triggered by a broken or damaged lithium-ion battery
The ACT government's encouragement of battery-operated short distance transport options means that hundreds are now beginning to enter the waste stream and pose a significant safety threat due to "thermal runaway".
"When lithium-ion batteries fail they can undergo thermal runaway," ACT Fire and Rescue has warned.
"This involves violent bursting of one or multiple battery cells, hissing and release of toxic, flammable, and explosive gases, and an intense, self-sustaining fire that can be difficult to extinguish."
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