In 2019 the company applied to receive 35,000 tonnes of waste, under the impression that only solids were counted, not liquid waste.

READ MORE: Camperdown Compost seeks tick for $2.5m upgrade

The requirement to include liquids has seen the company apply to the EPA to increase its intake levels to 50,000 tonnes of compost waste per year.

The company said for the last two years, average intake has been around 42,000 tonnes, including liquid waste.

Up to 24,000 tonnes of compost can be processed annually under its existing EPA license at 445 Sandy's Lane, Gnotuk.

The cost of the proposed amended development is $2.5 million.

Each year Camperdown Compost turns over around 10,000 tonnes of finished compost product for sale off-site to a range of end users for landscaping, agricultural uses and commercial composts.

It composts hard green wastes, municipal green wastes, animal waste, grease interceptor trap effluent, food and beverage processing wastes, car and truck wash waters, industrial wash wasters and inert sludges or slurries.

The amendment seeks to modify the application to incorporate a larger footprint for the facility operations and expand the existing use of the site.

Camperdown Compost have operated the site since the late 1990's.

It has received several odour complaints in the past.

The proposal is part of Camperdown Compost's long-term program to modernise its 20-year-old 2.3 hectare facility, which has received support from Sustainability Victoria.

The works require approval from Corangamite Shire Council and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Victoria.

The site is located 450 metres from Blind Creek.

The facility contains a series of latitudinal windrows used to compost organic material as well as stormwater and wastewater treatment and detention areas, a portable office building and vehicle parking areas.

The remaining balance of the lot, around 26 hectares, is used in conjunction with an adjoining broadacre farm.

If the proposal is accepted, the existing facility will be re-designed to process up to 50,000 tonnes per year of organic waste using open turned windrows.

The composting area will consist of two 'columns' of windrows located on top of a concrete force aerated floor.

The proposed windrows will be regularly turned using a mechanical windrow turner to maintain optimum temperatures and aerobic conditions.

The facility also seeks to add food organics/green organics (FOGO), green waste, putrescible organic wastes, food and beverage processing wastes, and industrial wash waters to the list of licensed feedstocks to be processed at the facility.

New buildings and structures include a 48 metre by 20 metre machinery shed, a portable office, relocatable toilet, lunch and change room building, a blower shed, a pump shed, two 275,000 litre roof-capture water tanks, including one for supply to pasteurisation and one for fire-fighting purposes, a 9000 cubic metre contact water dam and a solid separation pit, bunkers, liquid storage and pump areas.

The site contains two vehicle access ways from Blind Creek Road on its northern boundary, which is a two-way unsealed road linking Darlington-Camperdown Road, Sandys Lane and Castle-Carey Road.

The site currently receives and dispatches organic waste material 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Around 85 per cent of waste is received between 7:30am and 4:30pm on Monday to Friday and between 8:00am to 12:00pm on Saturday.

The site currently processes organic waste material between 6:00am and 6:00pm on Monday to Sunday (all days included).

A new car parking area is planned to incorporate 13 car parks.

Currently compost is taken off-site on haulage contractor trucks.

Around 18-20 total truck movements are generated per day.

Three houses are located within two kilometres of the site.

Earthworks are proposed including two vehicle accesses from Blind Creek Road, internal yard roads, compost storage and processing areas, including a concrete force aerated floor for composting, a weighbridge and building pad areas.

The full planning permit is located on the Corangamite Shire Council website.

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