Call for community input on proposed new recycling facility at Summerhill

City of Newcastle (CN) is seeking community feedback on its proposal to construct a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) at Summerhill Waste Management Centre.

The facility will allow plastics, paper, cardboard, glass and metals collected from kerbside recycling bins to be recovered at the Summerhill site, which will reduce transport costs and greenhouse gas emissions and allow Newcastle's red, yellow and green-bin domestic waste to be processed at the one location.

Recyclables collected from Newcastle households have been transported to the Central Coast for processing since the only MRF in the Hunter closed in 2020, affecting City of Newcastle and several other Hunter councils whose recyclables were also being processed locally.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the project would deliver major environmental and financial benefits for the city and community.

“Combined with the organics processing facility, the MRF will be an important foundation for achieving our vision for a circular economy where recyclables can be processed and remanufactured into new products locally," Cr Nelmes said.

"The proposed design features state-of-the-art sorting technology to produce clean and well-sorted recyclable streams of plastics, paper, cardboard, glass and metals.

"Up to 28 full-time equivalent jobs will be created at the facility alone, with additional employment generated through the emergence of downstream business incentivised by the local supply of recycled materials."

The proposed design is scalable to process up to 85,000 tonnes of recyclables per annum, creating a regional solution for recyclable waste from across the Hunter that offers economies of scale plus greater certainty for residents that their recyclables will continue to be collected and recovered without disruption into the future.

The project received $5 million from the Federal and NSW Governments in August last year and is included in the draft 2022/23 Budget as one of four city-shaping projects that will deliver key outcomes for the community.

CN has prepared concept designs in conjunction with site master planning to ensure the optimal location of the facility alongside other waste diversion projects.

Information sessions will be held to provide an opportunity for the community to ask questions and give feedback on the project and its proposed design.

Residents can attend a drop-in session on Tuesday 31 May 22 at the Minmi Progress Hall between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, while an online information session will be held on Thursday 2 June 2022 from noon to 1pm.

Interested residents can find out more about the project, provide feedback and register to attend an information session at newcastle.nsw.gov.au/yoursay