A 'ring of fire' could soon burn around one of Australia's major cities

Just 40 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, residents in Sunbury have finally had enough of being the city's dumping ground.

When soil contaminated with traces of PFAS was discovered while digging Melbourne's Metro Tunnel it was disposed of here.

Now there are plans for a waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator that will burn 750,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.

It will operate 24 hours a day, every day, for the next 30 years.

"We're done with being treated as Melbourne's dumping ground," said Alison Medforth, addressing a rally against the proposed incinerator last month.

"We are done being taken for granted and being ignored."

Last year she became increasingly concerned with plans for an incinerator just three kilometres from her home.

She started a Facebook group that evolved into a fully-fledged campaign, No Sunbury Waste Incinerator.

"This is all about waste management and it is a quick fix to a long-term problem," she told 7.30.

"It's going to have far-reaching consequences, not only for the communities where they're located but all of Victoria."

Waste-to-energy, also known as energy-from-waste, is a landfill alternative used around the world.

Proponents bill it as a win-win: a way to divert rubbish from landfill and, at the same time, incinerate it to generate power for the grid.

Mark Rodgers, CEO of HiQ, the company behind the planned Sunbury incinerator, told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry last month the proposal is a key part of managing the amount of rubbish heading to landfill.

"Our Sunbury site has been in existence for 25 years, operating as a waste precinct," Mr Rodgers said.

"We see the best way for [a WTE incinerator] to assist, to manage the waste issue that we're having is part of an integrated precinct. And that's what we're proposing."

However, in nearly every community where WTE plants are being proposed across Australia they have attracted strong opposition.

No state has embraced WTE incineration more than Victoria. There are currently 11 licences making their way to final approval.

Controversy has focused on what opponents and some state politicians have been calling "ring of fire" proposals around metropolitan Melbourne, with waste incinerators planned for Laverton North, Sunbury, Wollert, and Dandenong South.

"They're all working-class communities. So, they're all communities that aren't going to necessarily have enough time or energy to fight a proposal like this,"

Ms Medforth said.

"They're worried about paying their rent [and] their mortgages. They're worried about how they're going to keep a roof over their head and afford groceries.

"Sometimes they're not going to have access and time to fight them as much as other communities might."

'Toxic' smell of burning plastic

In the suburbs south of Perth, waste-to-energy is already a reality.

The Kwinana waste-to-energy incinerator started burning rubbish in September 2024. Not long after, Nelson Bettencourt noticed a change in the air quality in his adjacent suburb of Medina.

"A plastic burning smell started hanging around," Mr Bettencourt told 7.30.

"There'd be times where it just slowly got worse and then people started complaining, and then it'd be like three or four days in a row of it."

The WA government received the environmental commissioning report on the plant's performance last December. It told 7.30 it's not appropriate to release the report while the plant's licence application is still being assessed.

The government also says it is aware of rising odour complaints in Kwinana.

Mr Bettencourt said he's concerned enough to consider moving.

"There's no ifs or buts about that, smells toxic,"

he said.

"I'm not a scientist … but to me, if you're smelling plastic, burning … then that's got to be going into your lungs for sure. You know what I mean?"

Questions over safety

The key point of contention over incineration plants is air quality: Are the emissions safe?

The plants are banned in Greater Sydney and the plan to place one in the regional centre of Parkes has been met with significant opposition.

The waste reduction industry and state environmental protection agencies argue they are safe, and that much of the opposition to WTE incinerations is driven by misinformation.

"Modern waste-to-energy facilities are not the incinerators of the past," said Gayle Sloan, the CEO of industry peak body WMRR (Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia) as she addressed a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into WTE incineration last month.

"More than 2,000 facilities operate safely around the world, including in densely populated urban environments."

"Energy-from-waste facilities, as designed under modern standards, are safe for the community, in residential community and agricultural areas," Dr Jackie Wright from Environmental Risk Sciences told the inquiry.

Other experts are not as sure.

Dr Peter Tait from the advocacy organisation Public Health Association Australia has co-authored two reports that examined peer-reviewed scientific research on the impact of incinerators.

"Because some of these impacts take decades to manifest it's too early to say whether newer incinerators are more safe than older incinerators with older technology and older regulation," he told 7.30.

Dr Tait said he recognised the amount we are dumping into landfill was not sustainable.

"The problem with landfill is that we're creating mountains of garbage which is having some environmental impact, and we're running out of space," he said.

"On the other hand, by burning the garbage we are creating chemical pollutants.

"It's this difficult question of saying this is absolutely better than the other alternative. It's of mixed benefits, and it cuts both ways."

Communities hesitant

In Victoria, community perception has not been helped by state Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio who has publicly opposed a WTE incinerator planned next to her electorate.

When asked about a senior cabinet minister opposing a WTE incinerator, Ms Sloan told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry, "I wouldn't pretend it's helpful."

Ms D'Ambrosio told 7.30 that her opposition did not undermine the credibility of the government's overall WTE policy.

"It's always a matter of the best locations for these types of facilities. And my community has been really clear that they don't believe that the location in Wollert is the best place for a waste energy facility," she said.

Victoria's energy minister said other communities, such as Sunbury, also have a right to oppose WTE incinerators.

Worldwide, despite repeated assurances from governments, few if any communities seem keen to welcome an incinerator.

In Europe, WTE disposes of more municipal rubbish than landfill but debate over its future is contentious.

In the Ile de France region encompassing metropolitan Paris a government health report has advised 12 million residents against eating locally produced eggs due to contamination. Incinerators are a leading suspected source.

Plans for a new incinerator in the Paris region have also been met with significant opposition.

On the fringe of Melbourne, residents are set to fight just as hard against them.

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