City of Newcastle’s first Material Recovery Facility (MRF) has reached its next stage of development, with the City announcing that consultants, GHD, have lodged a development application – kickstarting the project’s assessment.
The MRF, which is set to be built at the Summerhill Waste Management Facility, will have the development application assessed by the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel.
The MRF will sort recyclables from residents’ yellow-lid kerbside bins into separate materials such as paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel and aluminium, which can then be on-sold to recyclers for use in the manufacture of new products.
Concept designs prepared by City of Newcastle ensure the MRF is scalable to process up to 85,000t of recyclables per annum, creating a regional solution for recyclable materials from across the Hunter.
The MRF project received $5 million from the Federal and New South Wales Governments in August 2022 and is included in the adopted 2022/23 Budget as one of the City’s four city-shaping projects aiming to deliver key outcomes for the community.
City of Newcastle Lord Mayor, Nuatali Nelmes, said it was pleasing to see progress continue on the MRF, which will ensure the City of Newcastle meets community expectations as well as State and Federal Government recycling targets.
“The community has told us very clearly that they support measures to sustainably divert waste from landfill, and City of Newcastle is committed to delivering on these expectations through our recently adopted Sustainable Waste Strategy,” Mayor Nelmes said.
“As there is no MRF operating in the Hunter region, Summerhill Waste Management Facility is an optimal location for a regional solution with close access to the M1 and Hunter Expressway.
“Recyclables collected from Newcastle households have been transported to the Central Coast since 2020 when the only MRF in the Hunter closed, affecting the City of Newcastle and several other Hunter Councils.
“The construction of the MRF will help us transform Summerhill into an innovative regional resource recovery hub that will reduce waste, increase recycling rates, create new jobs and kick-start local business opportunities within the circular economy.
“The submission of this development application, in conjunction with the current call for tenders to design, construct and operate the MRF, will allow us to maintain momentum towards achieving this goal.”
