The Yass Valley Council has been trying for years to tackle the problem of clean fill from Canberra’s building sites being dumped over the border in NSW, and warned it could hit the region’s water supply, roads and environment.
The latter is currently the site of five approved dump sites.
In a more recent report to council on a development application, Canberra construction companies were said to be avoiding the high cost of clean fill disposal in the ACT by dumping thousands of tonnes of fill just over the border in NSW.
Instead the company responsible will be required to pay the council $2110 as a contribution towards maintaining Kaveneys Road, where the farm is located, due to the increased truck movements.
The 2016 report said the amount of trucks from Canberra laden with clean fill was having a detrimental impact on the council’s roads.
Loading The 2016 report said the exported material from Canberra had the risk of infesting NSW local government areas with weeds.
The report made two recommendations, which have been followed by the NSW and ACT governments.
Mr Berry said suggestions to introduce a certification system for the clean fill had been met by the ACT government.
Previously developers were allowed to dump 600 millimetres of clean fill without approval, but in a loophole, there was no limit on volume nor the area of fill, other than the property’s size.
An ACT government spokeswoman said there was no risk to Canberra’s water supply from the clean fill dumping in Yass.