BY DOUGLAS WALKER
PERTH — Toxic waste has been dumped at the Kelvin Road dump site in Gosnells, in Perth's outer south-eastern suburbs, according to the Contaminated Sites Alliance.
CSA spokesperson Lee Bell said dioxins, one of the most toxic chemicals known to science, are present in the dump site and pose a serious threat to human health if they leach into the groundwater.
The Kelvin Road tip, licensed to hold only low-hazard waste, is completely unsuitable for dumping such dangerous chemicals, he said. Bore water supplies could be contaminated and dioxins could be entering the food chain if animals are exposed to contaminated water, either through eating contaminated plants or drinking the water.
The council dump site, opened in 1973, is bordered by poultry farms and around 40 homes are within half a kilometre of the site. Dioxin, a human carcinogen, has been linked to various toxicological effects, including birth defects, immune system impairment and diabetes.
Dumping of medical waste ash from the Stephenson and Ward incinerator in Welshpool was the cause of the contamination, Bell said. Medical waste ash was dumped at the Kelvin Road site for a number of years, up until mid-1997. Medical waste contains high levels of PVC products; burning PVC is known to produce high levels of dioxins.
The Stephenson and Ward facility is the only biomedical incinerator still open in WA, following a 1996 Department of Environmental Protection limit on dioxin emissions from incinerator chimneys.
But, says Mariann Lloyd-Smith, coordinator for the National Toxics Network, a Canberra-based environmental group dealing with the same issue, removing dioxins from chimney emissions only means more dioxins end up in the ash.
Documents obtained by Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly show low levels of dioxins were found in chimney emissions from Stephenson and Ward, but the ash was not officially tested for dioxins. This is despite a WA Health Department report from 1991 citing research claiming that 40% of dioxins produced by incineration ended up in the ash.
"Medical waste ash is notorious for having dioxin contamination", Lloyd-Smith said. "I was shocked to hear of how this waste was disposed of. That this continued until as recently as 1997 is even more shocking", she said.
Waste material containing dioxins should be stored at the most secure site available she said. In WA, Class V tips are used for dumping the most dangerous wastes. Kelvin Road is a Class II tip.
"By the sounds of it, the disposal at Kelvin Road occurred with little consideration of either leachate requirements or the interaction of other waste with the ash. Any assurances this waste will not leach [are] quite impossible", she said.
Bell said he believed the Department of Environmental Protection would have been required to send the ash to a Class V site if dioxins had been tested for. The ash should now be exhumed and sent to a more secure site, he added.
The CSA had "grave concerns" over potential dioxin poisoning and believe the department committed a major blunder in sending the ash to a Class II tip. Bell called for a public inquiry into how the Kelvin Road tip could operate without adequate regulation.