The state government's Core Consultative Committee on Waste has made three grants of to community groups in Bencubbin, Kalgoorlie and Northam to fund an examination of potential hazardous or industrial waste sites.
Grants of up to $10,000 are available for communities to access independent advice in areas around eight of the potential sites.
The Core Consultative Committee on Waste was established by the WA Waste Management Board in 2002 to provide advice and promote open discussion about waste management issues. Its 10 members are drawn from community organisations, industry, local government and unions.
The grants aim to empower communities by resourcing their engagement in the public exhibition process through the employment of suitably-qualified experts who will assist the RCGs develop submissions and clarify siting issues.
The Bencubbin group have chosen Sinclair Knight Merz as their suitably qualified experts, the Kalgoorlie group have chosen Syrinx Environmental Pty Ltd and the Northam group (known as the STAR Alliance) have chosen GHD Pty Ltd.
Applications from groups associated with the other five publicly-exhibited sites are expected this week.
Committee co-chair, Ms Mary Askey said that the engagement of the independent experts to assist local communities was an important milestone in the site selection process.
"We look forward to an effective interaction with the representative community groups and to providing their chosen experts with any information they may need about our process", Ms Askey said.
