Organic recycling company C-Wise has cleared a planning hurdle in its $42 million plan to build a composting facility near Mandurah.
Organic recycling company C-Wise has cleared a planning hurdle in its $42 million plan to build a composting facility near Mandurah.
The Metro Outer Development Assessment Panel today unanimously approved C-Wise’s proposal to build a carbon recycling plant on Gull Road in Keralup, about 11 kilometres from the Mandurah city centre.
C-Wise has operated a composting facility in Nambeelup (further inland from Mandurah) for 25 years.
However, it is understood the company sought to relocate its premises to secure a solid land tenure for its future operations.
“Recognising that the remaining lifetime of the existing composting facility is limited, C-Wise has been actively seeking an alternative long-term location to establish a modern, better practice facility for over a decade,” the DAP report reads.
“The site was determined to be a suitable location for a new facility due to its proximity to C-Wise’s existing operations and the large extent of historically cleared land, which provides an opportunity to significantly expand C-Wise’s current production capacity.”
The proposed Keralup plant comprises a workshop, receival hall, carbon storage area, processing areas, screening and dispatch areas, liquid waste tank farm, and leachate ponds.
The estimated value of the project is listed as $42 million in the DAP report.
When fully operational, the Keralup plant would be able to process 200,000 tonnes of solid organic materials and 60,000t of liquid waste a year, the report said.
Altus Planning director Joe Algeri, on behalf of client C-Wise, said there had been an extensive period of planning over odour impact, water management, and bushfire management.
“In essence this application seeks to relocate [C-Wise] to transition to the new site whereby there would be the latest technology in accordance with better practice industry guidelines,” he said at the meeting.
“In many senses, this is the perfect site.”
Panel members discussed concerns over odour impacts considering there had been complaints from the community over the Nambeelup facility, according to the DAP report.
However, the members unanimously supported the application with an odour management plan in place for the Keralup plant.
The DAP report said the Keralup facility would cover about 17 hectares of land when completed.
The plant would be constructed in two stages, with the second stage to start about two to three years after the first becoming operational.
Last year, C-Wise received $5.75 million in funding from state and federal governments to support development of the Keralup facility.
