Between 50,000 And 60,000 Tons Of Waste - Carpet, Furniture, Rotting Food, More - Generated By NSW Wales Floods In May
In a large field by the Taree greyhound track stands a huge pile of waterlogged and mud-caked waste, pulled from houses and businesses inundated by last week’s massive floods. Among the mound are couches, fridges and piles and piles of broken furniture. The heap represents the heartache and damage of the floods – people’s treasured possessions and equipment they used to make their livelihoods. But it also presents a logistical challenge for the community: what to do with thousands of tonnes of ruined furniture, broken electricals, silt-filled kitchen units and sodden, mould-breeding carpet?
By the time the cleanup is done, an estimated 60,000 tonnes of waste generated by the floods will end up in landfill, says Paul De Szell, liveable communities director for MidCoast council, which includes Taree, Wingham and other flood-affected communities. For context, De Szell says, the amount sent to landfill each year for the entire council area – which covers many communities not hit by the recent floods – is 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes. “If you put a year of landfill in one month, the system doesn’t function.”
EDIT
“[The waste] is wet, it starts to smell. There’s all sorts of bacteria that exists in that flood waste so it’s very important to get that waste off the ground as soon as possible.” The EPA says one of its key priorities is the disposal of animal carcasses – 1,200 of which have been reported to the Animal and Agriculture hotline so far, with that number expected to grow significantly. The EPA says it is working closely with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to identify disposal sites.
Another of the challenges the waste management team faces is the volume of silt and mud swept into properties by the flood. De Szell says his team is still in discussions with the state government to figure out what to do with it. “Our focus at the moment is taking material cleared out of houses so they can become habitable again. “We don’t want to have an even greater housing crisis than we already have on the mid-coast. We want to have the houses cleared out, washed out, made safe so people can rebuild their lives.”
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/30/all-sorts-of-bacteria-floods-have-dumped-a-years-worth-of-landfill-on-some-nsw-towns-where-will-it-go