HORSHAM Rural City Council has taken a step into the future with the opening of a new landfill site at Dooen.
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The first load of rubbish was delivered to the site on Wednesday.
Council's operations engineer Martin Duke said the new landfill site had been in planning for the past three to four years.
"We are absolutely rapt to have it fully operational for the first time," he said.
"Council's former technical services manager David Eltringham recognised years ago the old landfill on the south side of Ladlow's Road was reaching capacity so we started the process with landowners and getting due permits in place for the new site.
"It was a very lengthy process and rightly so you can't have rubbish being dumped anywhere.
"During that process we found we could put more in the old site and therefore gained more time than we thought.
"Council itself has been very patient with the process."
Mr Duke said previously council had to ensure landfill was level, but new requirements were to mound the landfill so there were no pools of water that could infiltrate the rubbish underneath.
"Because of the mounding we have another few years of air space at the old site," he said.
"We had to put a liner on the new site and put a layer of rubbish over that to cover it. We will use it for about three to six months and then go back to the old site for another two years or so and finish filling that up."