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Construction on the new Eastern Cell at Bonnick Road Waste Management Facility is in its final stages with the official opening scheduled for Monday, 22 July 2024. The aim of this project is to extend the useable life of the pre-existing facility while future planning is completed.
What is a ‘cell’?
A cell is a large hole dug at a landfill site where waste is compacted and layered within the ground. Cells are purpose built to reduce impact on the surrounding environment.
Why we are building another cell?
Our current cell (also known as the Western Cell) is nearing capacity. Council is governed by strict guidelines set by the state which outline how 'full' a cell can get before it must be decommissioned.
Everything you throw into the red lidded bin is disposed at the Bonnick Road Waste Management Facility, with approximately of 20,270 tonnes of waste from 24,922 homes across the region sent to the facility in 2023.
Following the three flood events of 2022, the remaining space left in the Western Cell was accelerated, with six months of waste entering the cell in a period of two weeks! To combat this, the Eastern Cell project was fast tracked while council continued to investigate future alternatives.
The Eastern Cell cost $5.5Million and is scheduled to be operational by July this year. Building the Eastern Cell was significantly cheaper than the alternative solution, which was to truck waste out of the region, priced at approximately $12million per annum. The new cell is 24,400m2 in size, will hold up to 133,346 ton of waste and will have up to an expected 5 years of life.
Council is excited to announce that with the opening of the Eastern Cell, a Resource Recovery Hub will also be in operation on the eastern side of the Bonnick Road Waste Management Facility. Instead of traveling up the hill to the right as you enter past the gatehouse, all traffic will be directed to go straight, driving past the Eastern Cell and enter the Resource Recovery hub in a circular direction.
Once the Eastern Cell is open and operational, council will start to decommission the Western Cell. This will include capping the cell and redirecting all waste into the newly built Eastern Cell.
Council is in the process of future planning to identify long term solutions to our region’s waste. Check out the Future Planning page below for more information.