Update 23 February 2022 - Three draft Landscape Plan options for the Drysdale Landfill post closure were available for the community to view and leave their comments between 1 September and 13 October 2021. More than 50 survey submissions were received during the engagement period. Following a detailed review of the submissions it was clear there was support for features of all three Landscape Plan options. Please refer to the engagement report (a Word version can be found in the Document Library) for a detailed analysis of the feedback received.

The final Landscape Plan has been developed with features from each option and focuses on environmental restoration objectives with improved community access to the site.

The final Landscape Plan was approved by Council on Tuesday 22 February. Further details can be found in the media release. Works will begin in the coming months and will be progressively completed as landfill operations end.

Overview

The Drysdale Landfill, located at 502-510 Founds Road Drysdale, commenced operation in 1983. The landfill is the primary waste disposal facility in the municipality, supporting the City’s operations as well as residential and commercial customers. The landfill and resource recovery centre receives an average of 55,000 visits per annum.

As the Drysdale Landfill approaches the end of its operational life, the future use of the 64ha site needs to be considered. There are currently a range of land uses across the site which include:

  • Active landfill cells;
  • A resource recovery centre for residents and businesses to drop off materials for recycling and disposal;
  • Stormwater and leachate dams/ponds;
  • Former landfill cells that have been capped in line with EPA guidelines; and
  • A disused quarry which is shared with a neighbouring landowner.

Design Options

To ensure the site rehabilitation aligns with the community’s aspirations, the City formed a community reference group in late 2019 to develop a number of landscape plan options. The reference group included neighbouring property owners and members of the Geelong Field Naturalists Club, Drysdale Landfill Community Consultation Group and Barwon South West Waste and Resource Recovery Group. The City engaged a landscape design architect to facilitate the reference group meetings. Three landscape plan options were developed from these meetings, each having a different overarching theme:

  • Option 1 - Community access and use;
  • Option 2 - Environmental restoration; and
  • Option 3 - Restoring the landfill and quarry

Cost Estimate

Thompson Berrill Landscape Design (TBLD) prepared costing estimates for each landscape plan option;

  • Option 1 - $10-12M
  • Option 2 - $10-12M
  • Option 3 - $1M

Please note Option 3 includes an estimated $8.5M of revenue generated from the filling of the disused quarry with clean fill. Filling the disused quarry could be considered for Option 1 and 2 to offset capital costs.


Your feedback

The City is seeking community feedback on the future rehabilitation and use of the site after the end of the landfill operations. We are seeking to identify the highest priority actions for the site and if there are any other issues and opportunities that need to be considered in the development of the final plan.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the draft landscape plan options. The community consultation closes on Wednesday 13 October.

  • Please complete the survey below or visit the Drysdale Resource Recovery Centre for a hard copy of the landscape design options and survey. Alternatively, please contact Jack Taylor, Project Engineer - Waste Services (contact details in the 'contact us' section).
  • Don't forget to follow the project by clicking on +Follow at the top of the page.

Survey

We want to understand what you would like to happen to the Drysdale Landfill site when operations activities at the site are finished.

Privacy Clause

The personal information requested on this page is being collected by City of Greater Geelong for the purpose of the Drysdale Landfill Post Closure Landscape Plan or any other directly related purpose. If the personal information is not collected, we may not be able to contact you for further questions or solutions. Your personal information will only be disclosed to carry out a deeper analysis of the data* or as required to do so by law. Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to City of Greater Geelong, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.

*In order to gain a deeper understanding of the data provided to the City and improve our services to you, we may disclose the information you provide to us to AWS Comprehend which carry out analysis of the data. Your personal information may be disclosed to AWS Comprehend based in Sydney only in relation to the primary purpose of collection. View the following link for AWS Comprehend’s Data Privacy statement.