00:00Five generations have farmed this land in regional New South Wales.
00:06But just beyond the rolling hills lies the end point for much of Sydney's waste.
00:11It feels to us that this is the simple solution is to send it out of mind.
00:15Every day, tonnes of Sydney's household rubbish arrives near Tarrago
00:19to be buried in an old mine site run by waste company Veolia.
00:23Now the company wants to build an incinerator that would turn some of that waste into electricity,
00:28enough to power about 40,000 homes.
00:31Veolia says the technology is better than landfill for emissions and environmental performance
00:36and its modelling found no discernible impacts on soil, rainwater tanks and waterways.
00:42Plants like these are banned across most of New South Wales
00:45except in four regional areas including near Tarrago.
00:48And the state government is taking a cautious approach
00:51to putting these facilities in high population areas.
00:54We feel like we're being treated as second class citizens.
00:57So it wasn't safe for Sydney and all of a sudden it comes out here and it's safe.
01:02The facility was first proposed in 2021 and has faced widespread opposition ever since.
01:08They are concerned that even low level emissions of toxins
01:13that you're exposed to continuously for 20 years will have health risks involved.
01:19Studies have linked older waste incinerators to cancers and reproductive issues
01:24and one expert says it's too early to tell if the newer technology is any safer.
01:29I don't think that new incinerators under the newer, stricter regulations
01:35have been operating for long enough to be able to say yet that they are more safe
01:40than the previous generations of incinerators.
01:43And there are concerns the effects won't just be felt by nearby residents.
01:47I think it's very important for people in Canberra to really understand what's going on
01:52in their local region outside the ACT borders.
01:55Local residents say trust in the company is low.
01:58Since 2023, Veolia's been fined a total of $90,000 for environmental breaches
02:04at its existing landfill site.
02:06In a statement to the ABC, the company says it's responded promptly
02:10and transparently to past issues and would continuously monitor
02:13and publicly report air quality data if a waste-to-energy facility is approved.
02:19Five generations have looked after this land already
02:21and if our children would like to, we'd like them to be able
02:25to have the option to be the sixth.
02:27A burning fight to protect land, water and air.
02:34EULT
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02:52L
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