Four years ago, Bev Horden and her husband Graham received an unaddressed letter revealing plans to build Australia’s largest plastic recycling plant just 200 meters from their back fence.

“I remember taking it out of the mailbox on Christmas Eve, opening it as I was walking down the driveway,” Ms Horden said.

“It wasn’t a good Christmas present, that’s for sure,” added Mr Horden.

In Bowral today, they are among around 130 Southern Highlands residents registered to speak against the proposed facility at a meeting of the Independent Planning Commission.

The Plasrefine plant at Moss Vale, recommended for approval by the NSW Department of Planning on October 11, is expected to process 120,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste.

The department said in 2018-19, NSW recovered just 142,000 of 760,000 tonnes of plastic waste and believed the plant could help triple recycling by 2030.

The facility would cover 3 hectares of a 7.7 hectare site, four stories high with a 22 meter stack.

The Hordens have planted hundreds of trees on their property to help restore the shale forest of the Southern Highlands.

They support plastic recycling, but argue that the proposed recycling facility would be in the wrong location.

“The obvious issues for us and the community are the 24 hour operation, the noise, the vibration, the light, 380 vehicles a day, 100 heavy semi trailer movements,” Ms Horden said.

She said the past four years had taken a significant toll on residents.

“The community has been put under untold stress,” she said.

She said she was concerned about compliance with 27 items in the recommendation that needed to be managed and mitigated after the project was approved, such as fire risks.

She said the community was also concerned about the synthetic additives Plasrefine planned to use to wash the recycled plastic.

“The chemical mixture used to clean the plastic is a proprietary formulation which, to our knowledge, has not been used in Australia,” Ms Horden said.

Matter of balance

The project was approved through the NSW significant development pathway, overcoming opposition from Wingecarribee Council.

Ms Horden said despite years of questioning the development and multiple objections, she felt there was no balance.

The indigenous elders object

Local indigenous elders are also concerned about the proposed site for the plant.

Sharyn Halls, Gundungurra Elder said she was concerned about the plant’s proximity to local waterways.

“All of our riparian areas, all of our waterways are sacred,” said Aunt Sharyn.

“By putting a factory where they put it, our cultural values ​​are being diminished.”

Critical need for recycling

Professor Veena Sahajwalla, a leading authority on plastic recycling in Australia, said the need for more recycling centers was critical.

She said such facilities were essential and would support local manufacturing.

“We really need to raise our game and I think this is one of those examples – setting up a recycling facility like this where we can create innovative supply chains by introducing local recycled content that supports new manufacturing and new businesses.”

Strong opposition

The government’s recommendation triggered the review by the Independent Planning Commission, originally set for just one day, with 50 speakers anticipated.

However, due to overwhelming interest, the hearing was extended to three days after 135 people signed up to speak.

The first day at Bowral is expected to be a 10-hour session with quick five-minute windows for 70 participants, including newly elected mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick, local MP Wendy Tuckerman and various local business leaders.

Supporter Nancy Zheng from Plasrefine and Sophie Mason Jones from the GHD consortium, the company that wrote the Environmental Impact Statement, will speak first and have been given 10 minutes.