NSW Farmers’ says plans to pollute rural and regional communities with Sydney’s rubbish should be immediately rejected.

The proposed Parkes Incinerator would burn 700,000 tonnes of Sydney’s red-bin rubbish each year if approved, and NSW Farmers’ vice-president, Rebecca Reardon, said it was totally unacceptable to force any regional community to be the dumping ground for Sydney waste if they did not agree.

“When these projects were proposed for Western Sydney, there was a chorus line of Labor MPs very vocal in their opposition,” Mrs Reardon said.

“Back in 2020, Chris Bowen, who is now the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, called waste-to-energy incinerators ‘disgusting proposals’ that were ‘not clean energy.

“He said ‘it is burning garbage. It is literally a dumpster fire, and I’m not the only who thinks it’.”

Artist’s impression of the proposed Parkes Incinerator.

Mrs Reardon said the people of Parkes and Tarago, near Goulburn, felt they were being treated as “sacrificial communities,” and being forced to become Sydney’s dumping ground.

“Why should rural communities be forced to host projects that are considered unacceptable for urban centres, particularly when these same regions produce a lot of the state’s food and fibre?” Mrs Reardon said.

“It’s yet another industrial burden on regional areas without any consultation or consideration for what these communities want. These communities are also suffering the consequence of forced large-scale wind, solar and transmission line infrastructure.

“There’s also significant concerns for public health, and the impact on the food and fibre grown in these communities. These projects should be immediately ruled out without question.”

Mrs Reardon will speak at the Parkes Farmers & Community March on Saturday, February 28.