Kemps Creek. $49 million upgrade

SITA has lodged a DA has been lodged for a $49 million upgrade to its advanced waste treatment plant in Kemps Creek If approved, it will result in an increased capacity of 220,000 tonnes of waste being processed there every year. It currently processes 120,000 tonnes, including general solid waste and organic waste, and an additional 14,400 tonnes of bio-solids from sewerage treatment plants. The waste comes from councils including Penrith, Campbelltown, Camden, Wollondilly, Wingecarribee, Liverpool and City of Sydney. The application submitted by SITA said there would be an estimated 75 jobs generated during construction and another 20 full-time equivalent operational jobs

Penrith. Opposition to disposal

Penrith City Council will write to Premier Barry O’Farrell stating its unanimous opposition to the dumping of any hazardous waste at Kemps Creek, “We have also sought an urgent report on the terminology used to ensure there is no confusion or semantics about the terms ‘hazardous’ versus ‘radioactive’,” Mayor Greg Davies said.

Kemps Creek. Site ruled out

Hazardous waste from a radioactive site at Hunters Hill will be sorted on site and stored at a government facility in Lidcombe, not buried at Kemps Creek, the state government has promised. Instead only non-hazardous dirt and rock will be sent to Kemps Creek, with any hazardous material going to an Office of Environment and Heritage facility at Lidcombe that accepts radioactive material from other sites, including hospitals.

Kenps Creek. Radioactive waste

The state government has conceded that Kemps Creek was the only viable option if 5800 tonnes of mildly radioactive dirt and rock were to be removed from the site of a former uranium-processing plant. SITA Environmental Solutions, the company that operates the waste facility, said if material was radioactive it could not be safely stored there. "SITA has not been advised by the government of any decision relating to the waste at Hunters Hill and so we cannot comment further," the company said.

Kemps Creek. No dumping of waste

The NSW government has backed out of using Kemps Creek, near Penrith, as a dumping ground for 6000 tonnes of radioactive waste from Hunters Hill after community opposition. The Keneally government was expected to sell each of the three contaminated blocks at 7, 9 and 11 Nelson Parade, Hunters Hill, for $3 million.

Kemps Creek. $50 million site opened

The Minister for the Environment, Carmel Tebutt, has opened a $50 million state-of-the-art waste treatment plant, at Kemps Ctreek. The facility will have the capacity to process 134,000 tonnes of rubbish annually.