In December 2024 a fire broke both waste cells at the Marys Mount landfill in Gunnedah. Since then, the EPA has been working to ensure the licensee and owner of the landfill take appropriate actions to suppress the fire and reduce the impact of smoke and odours on the community.

Work on extinguishing the landfill fire has been ongoing but given the large amount of waste stored in one cell, and the consistently high temperatures in both cells, the fire has continued to smoulder.

Large waste fires are difficult to fully extinguish and usually require extensive work to smother the fire before traditional firefighting techniques can be deployed.

On 2 November a second fire was reported in stockpiled waste at the resource recovery site, adjacent to the landfill. This fire was rapidly suppressed, and works are currently focussed on reopening small sections of the stockpile to allow the fire to be extinguished with water.

On 7 November, a third fire broke out within Cell 2 of the landfill. Work is continuing to smother this fire and reduce smoke and odour impacts.

Community advice

Smoke and odours, including from the November fires, have been minimised however as these waste fires continue to smoulder, some residents and landowners may experience smoke and odour impacts.

Where possible, residents impacted by smoke or odour from the smouldering fires should keep doors and windows closed and seek medical advice if they are concerned about health impacts.

As work continues to smother and extinguish the fires, we expect any impacts on the surrounding area to diminish, however residents can report smoke and odour issues to the EPA’s Environment Line at [email protected]  

The EPA is continuing to work with the landfill owner and impacted residents and will provide updates to the community as work progresses. 

EPA action

The EPA is continuing to work closely with the licensee and has taken the following actions since December 2024:

• Issued a Prevention Notice on 3 December 2025 requiring the Licensee to cease receiving waste in response to two November fires. The notice also requires a range of actions to reduce the risk of further fires and progress works on extinguishing waste fires that continue to smoulder.
• Issued a Licence Variation on 2 June 2025 requiring additional safeguards and stronger operating controls be implemented across the entire site, including the landfill and resource recovery facility.
• Issued a Clean Up Notice on 7 January 2025 requiring the owners to engage further independent advice on the status of the fire at that stage and provide a plan for fully extinguishing the fire. It also required an assessment of potential pollutants released by the fire and further damage to the waste cells.
• Issued a Prevention Notice on 20 December 2024 requiring the landfill owners to suspend accepting waste for landfilling until a range of actions were completed to suppress the fire in waste cells.