Waste removal from an alleged chemical waste dump site at Lemon Springs continues, but with hundreds of tons of waste being pulled from the ground, what happens to the waste once it's removed?
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The Mail-Times spoke to the EPA's project manager, Julien Bull, to determine precisely what the process entailed.
"(The waste) is removed from the ground by our expert contractors, under hazmat conditions really," Mr Bull said.
"The waste is then taken to a large triage area that we've got on site. In the triage area, we've then got chemists who analyze what the waste actually is.
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"Once it's characterised, it's then placed into a series of buns within the triage area, relative to the type. These are all separated by separation distances and other safety measures.
"A lot of the waste that's coming out of the ground has to be repackaged as well, because it is in a pretty average condition.
"It's being repackaged into new drums or 1000L IBC containers before it's transported from the site."
The waste is stored at the triage site until it can be transported off-site; however, because waste types can only be transported together, the removal teams have to wait until a waste type has a full load ready to be moved.
"For example, if we're transporting class three flammables, it's got to be a full load of flammables, so you've got to wait for those full loads," he said.
"From there, once we've got a full load of a certain type of waste and it's ready to transport, we have EPA permitted vehicles or trucks that come into the site, whether they're a semi or a b-double.
"They're loaded up by the contractors from the triage area."
As a part of the transportation process, the waste is entered into the EPA's online waste tracking system.
"The waste is then taken to facilities licensed by the EPA to accept such waste," he said.
"There's a facility in South Australia it goes to, as well as facilities in Melbourne."
Once it's at those facilities, the waste is processed, with the result varying for the waste type.
Flammables may be reused as a fuel source, Mr Bull said, while other waste types must be destroyed.
"If it can't be processed and nothing can be extracted from that waste for a beneficial purpose, then it's disposed of," he said.
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"There's a number of different ways the waste can be disposed of, all dependent on waste type. It could be incinerated or even solidified."
Solidification, Mr Bull said, is a process where the waste is mixed into a cement-like mix.
"It's then sent to landfills that can actually accept that sort of waste," Mr Bull said.
As of August 2, about 565 pallets of waste have been removed from two sites at the Lemon Springs property, according to the EPA.
This equates to 393 tonnes of waste since waste removal work commenced on April 20
Waste removal at Site 1 was completed on June 9, before work began on Site 2 later that month.
The majority of the waste recovered from Site 1 were Class 3 Flammables, with the poor condition of the site meaning the clean up is taking longer than anticipated.
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