Cairncross recycling facility set to become transfer station

PORT Macquarie-Hastings Council will transition the Cairncross Materials Recycling Facility from a local processing plant to a large-scale transfer station.

A council report says major changes across the recycling industry have made small regional facilities increasingly unviable.

The decision last week confirms Council will move away from plans first flagged in 2022 to establish a new best-practice materials recovery facility at Cairncross.

Instead, co-mingled recyclables will be collected locally and transported to larger external facilities for sorting and processing.

A council report said industry feedback had consistently shown that economies of scale are now essential for recycling facilities to operate profitably, with regional councils struggling to justify the cost of building, upgrading and operating local processing plants.

Under the new approach, Council will seek public tenders for the operation of a transfer station rather than a materials recovery processing facility, simplifying the procurement process and providing clarity to prospective operators.

Councillors supported the shift but raised concerns during debate about transport costs, long-term resilience of recycling services, and the need to ensure the community continues to receive strong environmental outcomes.

Council officers said transporting recyclables to larger facilities would allow access to advanced sorting technologies not feasible at a regional scale, improving recovery rates and alignment with evolving sustainability standards.

The report said that other regional and rural councils, including MidCoast, Orange, Dubbo, Tamworth and Maitland, had already transitioned to similar models, sending recyclables to major processing hubs in Newcastle, Sydney and the Central Coast.

While the move may result in small increases in transport costs, Council said these would be offset by avoiding the significant capital investment required to build a new processing facility, previously estimated to range between $20 million and $90 million before inflation.

The existing recycling contract at Cairncross is set to run until August 2026, with Council recently approving negotiations to extend operations until June 2028 to allow time for the transition.

By Matt TAYLOR’