Welcome to the Rhodes Re-development web site.

The sites have been commonly known as:
Union Carbide | CSR Chemicals/Orica | Berger Paints| Allied Feeds |Homebush Bay |Greenpeace: Legacy Agent Orange on Homebush Bay |

As at February 1999 the proposed development consisted of

It is being located on three of the most toxically contaminated urban sites in Australia. There has been some reduction in these numbers in the gazetted plan, but it was not released for public exhibition. Even at  8 June 2000 (17 months after gazettal) DUAP were unable to confirm that the gazetted plan and supporting materials were available at Concord Rd Library. It is adjacent to Homebush Bay which is one of the most sewerage polluted waterways and heavy metal contaminated riverbeds in NSW. It has been suggested that it is among the 5 most polluted waterways in the world.

The middle is thought to be mainly made up of Union Carbide land. Remember Bhopal.

The North is largely the former Allied Feeds site. See below about the contaminated fill on this site.

The major sites in the area were the former plants of:

Berger Paints

Paints during most of the time Berger operated in this location had significant lead content. Exposure to lead is regarded as injurious to health, hence the move to unleaded petrol. it is presently under remediation.

Orica (formerly known as CSR Chemicals)

This was a large chemical plant.  It is presently under remediation.

Green Games Watch 2000 Inc said in their16 July 1998 newletter:
"ICI encompasses two sites: Mary St and Alfred St. At the Mary St site, soil is contaminated with heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalate esters. Groundwater (which flows into Homebush Bay) contains low concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene compounds and phthalate esters.

At the Alfred St site, soil is contaminated with heavy metals and organic compounds and groundwater (which flows into Homebush Bay) contains low concentrations of BTEX, PAH and phenolic compounds.

ICI is currently proposing to remediate the site to allow residential development. Remediation will involve use of landfarming techniques to reduce organic contaminants, excavation and off-site disposal of soils containing heavy metals, and removing floating organic contaminants from the surface of groundwaters intersected in excavations."

Union Carbide

Union Carbide group was the operator of the infamous Bhopal, india Chemical Plant which was the site of a major incident. Toxic wastes probably originating from this plant have been found through various nearby areas and are thought to significantly contaminate the adjacent Allied feeds site. There have been prior attempts to remediate this site. 

Green Games Watch 2000 Inc said in their16 July 1998 newletter:
"The following chemicals were produced at this site by Union Carbide (and before that, Timbrol Ltd): xanthates, aniline, nitrobenzene, phenol, chlorobenzene, chlorophenols, chlorine, DDT, bisphenol and phenol-formaldehyde resins.

On-site dumping of chemical wastes behind a sea wall occurred for land reclamation between 1937 and 1974. Dioxins were produced on-site as a byproduct in the production of the herbicide 245 T. This waste was dumped on-site. Reject batches of 245 T were also dumped in landfills at Homebush Bay, Concord and Lucas Heights. From 1970 to 1976, the extremely toxic dioxin 2378 TCDD was extracted from 245 T and stored in drums at the site until 1986 when they were exported for destruction.

This site is currently contaminated with polychlorinated hydrocarbons, including dioxins, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Some remediation work was undertaken in the early 1990s but was limited to containing wastes on site in an earthen sarcophagus. This is covered by a compacted clay cap and leachate is collected for recirculation through the contained area or for treatment. The remediation work did not include a 15m wide reclaimed section of shoreline."

Allied Feeds

While this site was largely involved in storage and handling of grain and feeds, a large part of the site has been reclaimed from Homebush Bay and the fill is believed to have significant contamination.

Green Games Watch 2000 Inc said in their16 July 1998 newsletter:
"The former Allied Feeds site was used as a flour mill from 1919. However, the site was expanded by reclamation between 1937 and 1974, largely using chemical waste from Union Carbide as fill. This left the reclaimed portion of the site heavily contaminated with polychlorinated hydrocarbons, including dioxins, and aromatic hydrocarbons. This part of the site is subject to a section 35 notice under the EHC Act. This area has reportedly been covered over with 1m of clean fill. The current owners are working with the Government to clean up the site so that it can be used for residential development. The clean-up proposal involves treatment of contaminated soil to destroy dioxins and other contaminants."

Homebush Bay

Green Games Watch 2000 Inc said in their16 July 1998 newsletter:
"Leaching of contaminants from the manufacturing sites (eg. Union Carbide) bordering the Bay, as well as drainage from Haslams and Powells Creek, have caused contamination of the Bay.

The dangerous levels of contaminants in the Bay have resulted in the current fishing ban on the Parramatta River west of the Gladesville Bridge and in Homebush Bay. Contaminants in the Bay include dioxins and furans, organochlorines and PCBs, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, chlorinated phenols, heavy metals and phthalates. The potential toxicity due to the mixture of compounds present in the sediments is of great concern. The Bay is also polluted with large amounts of DDT (in one instance in excess on 70,000ppm). Phthalates and heavy metals are present in highest concentrations adjacent to the ICI site and dioxins and other organic chemicals are present in the highest concentrations adjacent to the former Union Carbide and Allied Feeds sites. Concentrations generally decrease with distance from the sites.

The current clean-up proposal for the Bay involves removing some of the sediments and treating them to remove contaminants such as dioxins. Remediated sediment will then be placed on land. The proposal, however, currently lacks any plans for the validation of remediation of the sediment by means of bio-assays. A new sea wall is proposed to stop recontamination of the Bay from adjoining sites not fully rehabilitated in the proposal. Currently the proposal covers only a small part of the Bay, and does not include the area adjacent to the ICI site."

THE LEGACY OF AGENT ORANGE
- CLEAN UP HOMEBUSH BAY

  "In June 1997 Greenpeace investigations revealed an orphaned stockpile of thirty six, 200 litre drums and fifteen, 50 litre drums of highly dioxin contaminated waste next to Homebush Bay and the site of the Sydney 2000, Summer Olympic Games.

  Chlorinated chemicals were manufactured at the Union Carbide Australia Limited (UCAL) site at Walker Street Rhodes for almost 60 years, beginning with the original owners, Timbrol Limited, who made wood preservatives (1949-1957) and followed by Union Carbide Australia Pty Ltd (1957-1976) who made chlorinated pesticides including 2,4,5-T a constituent of the infamous Agent Orange used in the Vietnam war.

  Between 1949-1971 between 4 and 30 kg of dioxin dispersed in perhaps 200 to 300 tonnes of wastes from Timbrol Ltd and later, Carbide Australia Pty Ltd, were disposed of in landfills and covered over with earth at tips at Homebush Bay, Concord and Menai. The exact location within each tip is difficult to ascertain and it was assumed by the NSW State Pollution Control Commission in 1986 that the dioxin contaminated waste could have been deposited in any part of each site.

  On-site investigations by Greenpeace in February 1997, over ten years since description of storage arrangements outlined by the SPCC, found thirty six, 200 litre drums marked 'dioxin contaminated waste' and 'flotation tails sludge'. Included in this stockpile were also fifteen 50 litre drums and around a dozen assorted small sealed plastic buckets and containers. The stockpile was discovered next to the old UCAL site sitting on the ground behind a rudimentary fence. Samples of the contents of the drums were taken and sent to the Institute of Environmental Science & Research Limited (ESR) in New Zealand.

 Results of samples from the stockpile were alarming. The analysis found that the waste was very highly contaminated with dioxin. It contained 108000 pg/g ITEQ (108 ng/g) of dioxin dry weight. The waste also contained high levels (98100 pg/g) of 2,3,7,8 TCDD dry weight (98.1 ng/g) which is consistent with residues and wastes from pesticide 2,4,5- T manufactured by Union Carbide Australia Limited up until the late 1970's.

  Greenpeace sampling of fish from Homebush Bay found high levels of dioxin in the food chain. Two Sea Mullet were found to have equivalent to 252 - 345 picograms per gram (ITEQ pg/g) of the most toxic form of dioxin 2378 TCDD. 10 - 15 times higher than US EPA and Canadian standards for concentrations in edible fish and 20-30 times environmental standards.

 Earlier studies of Homebush Bay highlighted the extent of the contamination and a fishing ban is in place. Sediment sampling carried out between 1987 and 1990 found surface sediments from 101 sediment analyses from Homebush bay to have a mean of 3.16 ng/g TCDD wet weight. Sub-surface sediments were found to contain over 550 ng/g I-TEQ of dioxin.

 The samples of fish from Homebush bay were over three hundred of times higher than levels reported in fish fillets from Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne and are the highest recorded dioxin contaminated fish in Australia and potentially one of the most contaminated in the world. Both fish samples had high levels of 2378 TCDD (170 pg/g - 326 pg/g, Mean 248 pg/g) the most toxic form of dioxin which is consistent with residues from chlorinated pesticides (2,4,5-T) production and contamination around the Olympic site.

 Since the Greenpeace action in June 1997, the NSW government committed $ 21 million (AUS) for the remediation of Homebush Bay. Unfortunately, a year later the timeline has slipped and by its own reckoning the NSW Governments plans to decontaminate Homebush Bay are at least 6 months behind schedule. While there has been a lot of promises to clean up the toxic mess at Homebush Bay, it is unclear when and how the very high levels of dioxin contamination. What ever happens, the lesson of Homebush Bay is an important one - avoidance of dioxin is better and far cheaper than trying to clean up the waste at a later date."

With thanks to Greenpeace.  See http://www.greenpeace.org.au/info/archives/toxic/dioxin/NSW.html