News Round

The Bushfire Recovery Program continues to help community clean-ups

Bushfire recovery grants for public land managers extended

Applications are open till 30 June 2021 for three Bushfire Recovery Programs: Green Waste, Council Landfills and Waste Dumping. This follows data collection and other support for eligible public land managers to submit final applications from 6 April to 30 June 2021. The end date for applications was extended to Wednesday 30 June 2021 due to the devastating floods that impacted many public land managers across NSW.

You can get more information or help with your grant application by emailing bushfirerecovery.programs@epa.nsw.gov.au or calling 131 555.

EPA visits EPA-regulated sites to gain first-hand knowledge

The EPA's Board at the Orica facility 

The EPA Board with some of our Executives travelled to the upper Hunter Valley for the annual Board trip in April.

Each year, the Board visits EPA-regulated sites and hears first-hand about the key functions of our regulatory work and local environmental issues. This year, they visited the Vales Point power station and the high-profile Orica Kooragang Island facility, which includes an ammonia plant, nitric acid plants, ammonium nitrate plants and a product dispatch facility. The Board also visited the abandoned Truegain oil refinery in Rutherford that the EPA is monitoring to prevent impacts to the local environment and public health. The final visit was to the two open-cut coal mines located at Mt Thorley Warkworth.

The Board noted interest in how the EPA is working to assess environmental risks at the Orica facility following the ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut in August 2020. During the visit, the Board heard about the multitude of safety measures implemented by the facility, as well as the EPA's collaborative work with SafeWork, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Department of Planning.

At Truegain, the EPA's contractors have prevented approximately 2,938,340 litres of overflows of contaminated water from the former waste oil refinery site as we go through a multi-stage tender process for identifying a preferred long-term solution.

PFAS firefighting foam banned in NSW

PFAS firefighting foam has been banned for use in NSW except in catastrophic fire circumstances or where there are special circumstances. The firefighting foam containing per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is banned for all training and demonstration purposes in NSW from April this year.

Firefighting foam is the key cause of PFAS contamination in the NSW environment with concentrations detected at airports, defence sites, emergency service facilities, training facilities, major hazard facilities, and their surrounding environments.

Exemptions will be available if a business has valid cause to continue the use of certain PFAS foams, and some exceptions apply. More information

Waste Watch

Information and inspiration in waste management

The go with FOGO

EPA officers sampling at a compost facility

Regional and metropolitan EPA officers have been sampling compost at 22 facilities around NSW as part of a study to better understand this valuable recovered resource. 

The project is looking closely at physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics of recovered organics that are made from both food and garden organic (FOGO) wastes as well as garden only wastes

“We want to learn as much about this resource as we can to help inform the development of new requirements that support the sustainable recovery and reuse of these resources,” EPA Director of Environmental Solutions Helen Prifti said. The outcome from the project will be available later this year.

Ways your business can help solve the plastic problem

EPA grantees are helping businesses find solutions for  plastics problem

EPA Circulate grantee Circular Hub has released an educational video ‘The Plastic Police® Starter Pack’ for businesses to learn about plastic problems and offer some solutions.

If you want to know more about Circulate grants, head to www.epa.nsw.gov.au/circulate

Litter grant workshops and Jindabyne

Jindabyne Chamber of Commerce has been granted $75,300 for their Sustainable Snowies Litter Prevention Strategy.

Edwina Lowe helps Chamber of Commerce showcase their Sustainable Snowies project

“The project aims to better understand what is contributing to our waste problems across Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountains, as part of a pilot strategy to reduce litter by 50% by 2025 in the region,” Chamber Resource and Waste Education Officer Edwina Lowe said.

“We are particularly keen to help the community and our tourism operators to reach this target.

“The grant is allowing us to fund a dedicated Litter Prevention Project Officer to build these relationships in the region.”

Kicking butt litter from Bathurst to Tweed Heads

Cigarette butt disposal centre at Byron Bay

The Cigarette Butt Litter Prevention Grant projects are in full swing. Find out more