Big trucks would have 24-hours access from Monday to Saturday under the proposal for a tenfold expansion in the capacity of the Bingo waste and recycling centre at Mortdale.
While processing would stop at 10pm – four hours later than at present – trucks would still be able to load and unload throughout the night.
Truck numbers would not only double to 430 a day, but 85 per cent of them would be heavy vehicles, including B-doubles, compared with the present situation where 70 per cent are light vehicles.
These facts and other aspects of the proposed expansion of the Hearne Street facility are buried in hundreds of pages of documents, which make up the application to the Department of Planning and Environment.
Residents living nearby have been given scant information about the project during the so-called public consultation process, with submissions to close on Monday.
Patricia Clarke, whose modern home in Barry Avenue is not unusual in the residential area next to the light industrial zone where the waste centre is located, was horrified when told of the truck plans by the Leader.
Ms Clarke said, even if night-time traffic was restricted to Boundary Road and Hearne Street, as proposed, noise would travel and drivers were still likely to use her street.
“We get a lot of trucks past here already, but it’s mainly light industry, and there are none after about 6pm, and weekends are very quiet,” she said.
Ms Clarke said a garbage truck depot operated from the light industrial zone about 10 years ago, and residents were wakened by trucks in the early hours.
David and Judy Yong, whose son lives in Boundary Road, near the corner of Hearne Street, said truck noise was “already bad without having it all through the night.”
Another resident, who has closely studied the environmental impact statement (EIS), said many alarming facts were hidden in the hundreds of pages of documentation.
The resident, who is urging neighbours to make submissions, said 24-hour operation would be contrary to Georges River Council’s development control plan for light industrial areas.
“The hours of 6am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday, were put in place to balance the needs of industry and the residential amenity of surrounding streets,” he said.
Small business owners in Hearne Street also are strongly opposed to the expansion, saying the facility has already outgrown the area.
Apart from the traffic, dust was a major problem, one said.
“We don’t know what we are breathing,” he said. “I have raised so many concerns, but nobody wants to listen.”
Another said that while the waste centre operator might make the operation more efficient, the cost would need to be covered by catering for a lot more users.
The EIS says the centre, which would take materials including soils, bricks and concrete, can meet the needs of the new Sydney Metro rail line to Bankstown and the M5 East duplication.
