Crown Lands completes $1.3 million project to remove hazardous materials at former oil treatment facility

The NSW Government has successfully completed a $1.3 million clean-up of a former industrial site in Young, safely removing more than 2,500 containers of hazardous polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) material.

The project was led by Crown Lands in the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, after the former operator of the oil treatment facility went into liquidation in 2021 and the site was transferred to Government control through a court-ordered escheatment process.

The Department contracted remediation specialists Enviropacific to remove materials stored at the site. About 125,000 litres of liquid waste oils and 120 tonnes of solid PCB waste have been removed and transferred to licensed waste management facilities for safe disposal.

Work also included:

• Pumping out wastewater in bunded areas and sumps before removal of PCB materials.
• Decanting of waste oil from intermediate bulk containers and drums.
• Removal of waste oil from ground storage tanks.
• Cleaning of tanks.

The Hydrodec site was previously used to recycle waste industry oil and process PCBS. PCBs were widely used from the 1930s to the 1970s in industrial products but phased out due to impacts on the environment and risks to human health.

While there is no longer hazardous material at the site, the grounds remain closed to the public with fencing and security cameras installed as the Department determines the next phase of a remediation plan to ensure the land is fully remediated for future use.

Crown Lands Executive Director of Land and Asset Management Greg Sullivan said:

“When Hydrodec went into liquidation and its contaminated site was handed to the control of Crown Lands it was like receiving a ticking time bomb with leaking chemicals and PCB waste posing a serious risk to the local community and environment, particularly if there was a fire at the facility.

“We had to secure the area from unauthorised access, build a fire break around the site, assess the contamination and implement a remediation plan to have the chemicals safely removed. While there is more clean-up work to do, risks to the Young community have been eliminated.”

Minister for Lands an property Steve Kamper said:

“This is great news for the community. There were many sites across the state that were unfortunately impacted by historic industrial use when environmental protections were not as strong as they are today.

“The Minns Labor government is taking proactive steps to tackle environmental challenges, like the Hydrodec site, to safeguard community health and ensure impacted land can be safely re-used into the future."