Plants plan for waste site

About 2500 native plants will be planted as part of a re-vegetation project at the Stanley Road Waste Facility.

A dozen South Regional TAFE students studying a Certificate III in Rehabilitation will plant the locally sourced reeds and rushes to minimise erosion and provide food and habitat to attract small reptiles and birds.

The site was covered with a synthetic liner last year then with sand and soil to a depth of 1.2m to plant into.

“The project is a great learning opportunity to engage students in understanding the importance of re-vegetation and work on a locally relevant project,” Bunbury Harvey Regional Council waste education officer Kate Shaw said.

Capping landfill cells is a mandatory procedure and involves placing a barrier over the area to isolate the deposited waste from the outside environment.

She said re-vegetation helps to minimise erosion and provide food and habitat to attract native species to the area.

“The area has also had logs added for additional habitat that may attract other larger native species such as the quenda,” she said.

“We hope the re-vegetation will extend with the students in the coming months and I look forward to having students from other TAFE classes also coming out to continue with this or other projects onsite.”

Regional council staff are also monitoring methane levels at the site through data capture and analysis.

The monitoring will take place over the next 12 months and will determine if it is possible to install a system to generate electricity from the methane at the site.