THE Southern Metropolitan Regional Council will rebuild the same model recycling plant as the one that burnt down at its Canning Vale recovery centre in June 2009.
THE Southern Metropolitan Regional Council will rebuild the same model recycling plant as the one that burnt down at its Canning Vale recovery centre in June 2009.
It will cost an estimated $16 million to rebuild the 18-month-old facility at SMRC’s Regional Resource Recovery Centre, most of which will be covered by insurance.
The cause of the fire, which burned 500 tonnes of waste and was the second fire in as many weeks at the site, has not been determined.
However, SMRC chief executive Stuart McAll said that, in the first six months of 2009, there were at least seven significant fires at similar types of facilities around Australia.
Despite this, the SMRC resolved to rebuild the materials recovery facility under the same owner-operator model because it was deemed to be more profitable.
Each year the facility, which recovers recyclables such as plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium and steel products from yellow-topped wheelie bins, prevents about 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from entering the atmosphere.
Regional council chairman Tony Romano said steps were being taken to mitigate the risk of another fire at the recycling facility.
“The fire that destroyed the plant added to our problems from the global financial crisis and it’s not so much the impact of that year we will feel, but it’s going to have a financial impact moving forward this year and next year,” Mr Romano told WA Business News.
“We’re making significant differences to the fire protection system this time and the separation of various components of the facility to ensure that, if any fire does start, it won’t burn the whole facility down and it will actually be contained.
“One of big considerations is how we mitigate the risk of that situation happening again, and I think we’ve taken the right steps.”
Riverton MLA Mike Nahan said the SMRC’s decision was “unbelievable” considering the cause of last year’s fire had not been determined.
He said the SMRC should continue to investigate the cause of the fire and cease all redevelopment plans until the potential design flaw had been uncovered.
“The recycling service at the SMRC is very good but the council must rebuild this facility safely and they can’t waste money doing it,” Dr Nahan said.
“But it sounds unreasonable and inappropriate to rebuild the same facility, which is just 200 metres from homes, when they don’t know what caused the fire and the fire had occurred in at least seven similar facilities in just six months.
“There’s obviously a design flaw here.”
Mr McAll said he was confident the council could recover financially from the fire and that the SMRC was on track to break even this financial year.
Meanwhile, the City of Canning is set to end its partnership with the SMRC in July, which is expected to cost the city almost $20 million.
Under the terms of agreement with SMRC’s seven member councils, Canning will continue to pay its share of any liabilities and loans, incurred up until the date of leaving, meaning the remaining partners will not have to pay for the city’s share of the facility.
A feasibility report released by Perth-based social environment services firm Cardno BSD said that, under the terms of agreement, the city will have to pay the SMRC $270,000 at the time of withdrawal, plus annual contributions of about $1.28 million a year until 2023
