THE soon-to-be closed Stanley Road landfill will need to be monitored for more than 30 years to ensure there are no adverse environmental implications.
A dome-like cap will be fitted over the landfill when the site is retired with below-ground water testing planned to continue for more than three decades.
Bunbury-Harvey Regional Council chief executive officer Tony Battersby noted the importance of maintaining the environment and said he hoped the site would be closed as a landfill in the next few years.
“We will continue our efforts once the landfill ceases to exist,” he said.
“We will monitor for the next 20 to 30 years to see how it settles.”
“There will be an extensive cap in place to protect the environment from any leaking.”
Mr Battersby said the team would monitor ground water quarterly for three to four years following the closure and gradually move to six-monthly and annually.
Waste workers will stay on the Stanley Road site where a transfer station will remain for the general public to dispose of waste which will be redirected to the new landfill.
A similar station is also planned for the City of Bunbury under the regional council’s ten-year plan.
The regional council has earmarked an existing location off of Banksia Road in the Shire of Dardanup as their preferred site for a new landfill.
Mr Battersby also said there were no future plans for the Stanley Road site.
The Department of Environment and Conservation said there were no specific requirements to close the landfill as long as it did not harm the environment.