DRAFT
Tullamarine Landfill Post-closure and
Rehabilitation Plan
Introduction
In accordance with EPA guidelines for the closure and rehabilitation of
landfills (EPA 788) this Post-closure and Rehabilitation Plan provides an
overview of the principles guiding the rehabilitation process and the major
issues to be dealt with.
This draft plan will guide the rehabilitation process and provide the basis for
assessing progress and success for the rehabilitation project.
A draft plan such as this will require regular review as the project progresses.
Acceptance of this plan by the major stakeholders (TPI, EPA, Council and
community groups), combined with a willingness to review the plan as
required, is a public indication of mutual willingness to achieve the best
environmental and social outcome for the community surrounding the landfill.
Main Principles
The overriding principle underpinning the goals of the post-closure and
rehabilitation process is:
To clean up contamination of the site to the maximum extent achievable and to
ensure that all remaining waste is contained to the maximum extent
achievable and for the long-term (i.e. until there is no risk of further
environmental contamination).
Major Issues
The following issues arise in the post-closure and rehabilitation of the
Tullamarine Prescribed Waste landfill:
1. Clean-up: There are several steps that need to be taken to clean up the
site (in accordance with, amongst other requirements, the Groundwater
SEPP and EPA Guidelines in Publication 840):
i.
There are likely to be contaminant “hot spots” within the landfill and
these should be removed wherever practical. The first step will be to
detect these spots (through investigation of deposit data and
subsequent direct testing)
ii.
There is a large amount of LNAPL within the landfill which must be
extracted and rapidly taken off-site for treatment or storage prior to
treatment
2. Containment: The successful containment of this waste for the longest
period of time depends on utilizing best practice technology combined with
diligent monitoring:
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i.
Capping – the cap will be designed and constructed to utilize the
best available technology for capping of landfill of this type and with
the aim of ensuring total containment of the waste and leachate to
the maximum extent achievable.
Details of the capping arrangements are in Section 2: Capping.
ii.
Hot Spots – an important task to minimise risk is to locate
contaminant hot spots and remove them where it is safe to do so. A
detailed survey of past records of the location of toxic waste batches
along with an extensive site survey to locate hot spots will be
required as a matter of priority.
iii.
Leachate management – the most immediate area of concern is
the prevention of further leakage of contaminants. This should
involve the rapid (but safe) extraction of the LNAPL leachate as well
as any other leachate that can be readily extracted in order to
minimise the risk of leakage as well as substantially reduce the
toxicity of any further leakage that may occur.
The extracted leachate should be removed off-site to an appropriate
treatment and/or storage facility in accordance with Government
policy (as adopted in December 2000)
Details of the leachate management system are in Section 3:
Leachate Management.
iv.
Gas management –
Details of the gas management system are in Section 4: Gas
Management.
v.
Monitoring – must include:


effective monitoring of existing plume and relevant
waterways
effective monitoring of air quality, where “effective”
includes maximum practical continuous monitoring for
selected potential gas emissions
Details of the monitoring system are in Section 5: Monitoring
System.
vi.
Contingency plans – These must provide practical and proven
ways of managing adverse contingencies and must involve more
than merely notifying potential “victims” of such contingencies.
Details of the contingency plans are in Section 6: Contingency
Plans.
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3. Other Issues:
i.
Safety during transition – where is the EPA-approved quality control,
EIP, etc (check the current terminology)
ii.
Future uses
iii.
Landscaping
Details of the other issues are in Section 7: Additional Issues.
4. Section 173: A Section 173 should be included in the PAN (which
presumably EPA will now issue for the site) or license (in the absence of a
PAN) to ensure adequate legal opportunity for the Council and/or
community group(s) to obtain legal intervention in the event that TPI fails
to adequately and properly rehabilitate the site.
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