News
17 November, 2025
Residents stand united in blustery conditions
Residents have made the most of another opportunity to show they are vehemently opposed to a proposed plastics recycling facility in Moss Vale.
Residents have made the most of another opportunity to show they are vehemently opposed to a proposed plastics recycling facility in Moss Vale.
People from across the region answered the call from Southern Highlands Matters (SMH) and attended an on-site hearing of the Land and Environment Court on Monday morning.
Six people – all of them objecting to the proposal – were permitted to speak before Commissioner Joanne Gray at the hearing.
Unfortunately the blustery conditions made it almost impossible for people in the large crowd to hear what was being said.
The parties to the proceedings left the on-site hearing for confidential conciliation talks in Picton.
Attendees at the on-site hearing included Member for Wollondilly, Judy Hannan.
“It’s not in my electorate but it will effect my electorate,” Mrs Hannan told the Southern Wire.
The original Plasrefine proposal for a plastics recycling factory in Moss Vale was rejected by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) in January this year after a four-year community fight.
The proponent has since rebranded as RePoly and has lodged an appeal in the Land and Environment Court seeking to overturn the IPC’s decision.
If the parties involved are unable to reach a conciliated outcome, a decision on the proposal will be made by the Land and Environment Court.
Southern Highlands Matters had encouraged people to turn out in force on Monday morning as part of its ‘Reject Repoly’ campaign.
While most people were under the impression it was a site visit, Monday’s gathering was officially considered part of the hearing process and The Southern Wire was ordered by an armed sheriff of the Land and Environment Court to delete any photos taken beyond Beaconsfield Road or face a $20,000 fine.
IPC barrister Robert White had earlier told media that it was okay to take photographs until the official proceedings commenced at 10am.
The Southern Wire acknowledges that it was difficult to hear much of what was said – despite standing within a metre of the Land Environment Court Commissioner.
However the message from all six speakers was quite clear: Repoly’s proposal is the wrong development in the wrong site.
Susan Stannard, speaking on behalf of Wingercarribee Shire Council, told the Commissioner that council had ‘consistently’ raised concerns about the impact of the development.
She said those concerns had yet to be addressed.
While council voted earlier this year not to be a party to the proceedings Ms Stannard told the Commissioner that council “does not support a plastics recycling facility in this location”.
Dr Jacqueline Duc, speaking on behalf of local doctors and Doctors for the Environment Australia, told the Commissioner that physical and mental health depended on the health of the environment.
“Our environment effects our health in ways that we don’t understand until it’s too late,” Dr Duc said.
She said the emotional and physical toll of the Plasrefine/Repoly proposal had already taken its toll given the fight had been on-going for almost five years.
She urged the Commissioner to “err on the side of caution” and to reject the Repoly application, describing it as “potentially devastating”.
Vanessa Harcourt, who lives directly beside the proposed facility, said the impact on her family would be irreversible.
“It would make my home unbearable,” she told the Commissioner, describing it an “irreconcilable conflict of land use”.
She said the plastics recycling facility would destroy her family home and her family’s way of life and would have a ‘catastrophic’ impact on the local community.
Property values had already plummeted and sales had fallen through.
Mrs Harcourt described the proposed plastics recycling facility as an “incredible conflict of land use” given that it would introduce heavy industry into a residential area.
She said the proposed recycling facility was “fundamentally incompatible” and there wasn’t a compromise that would make it work.
Other speakers raised concerns about the unsuitability of the site for a plastics recycling facility and the impact it would have on human health and the environment.
Neighbours said local fire brigades lacked the resources to fight a fire at the proposed plastics recycling facility and would have to wait from resources from as far afield as Campbelltown.
They said the fire risks could not be mitigated.
Read More: Moss Vale, Southern Highlands