Telegraph Point Community Association president Diane Sloan is encouraging people to attend the meeting at the Telegraph Point School of Arts Hall on Tuesday to learn more about the proposal.

The plan is for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council to dispose of sediment containing tributyltin (TBT) waste from the Birdon Group at the Cairncross Waste Management Facility off the Pacific Hwy, 15km north of Port Macquarie.

Mrs Sloan said the meeting was a great opportunity to learn and ask questions about the proposal.

“We encourage people to come and ask as many questions as they want of council,” she said.

“It’s about being informed and making informed decisions.”

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s waste services manager Bob Bailey will address the meeting and answer questions.

He said the council was taking an up-front approach and he would talk to anybody at any time about the plan.

He said the sediment contained a small amount of residual TBT.

“It’s not in a high concentration and the [Environment Protection Authority] and Birdon Group have done testing on it to determine if we can take it at Cairncross,” he said.

TBT is contained within organotin waste generated by the shipping industry during the removal of anti-fouling paint containing the chemicals.

A letter from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) about six weeks ago advised that acceptance of the waste sediment containing TBT material at the Cairncross landfill could be undertaken, subject to conditions.

Mrs Sloan said a number of people had approached the community association about the plan.

The meeting, from 7.30pm on Tuesday at the Telegraph Point School of Arts Hall at 7 Cooperabung Dr, is open to the public.

A briefing paper about the issue is available at the Cairncross weigh bridge, Telegraph Point post office and the School of Arts Hall notice board.

A response from the EPA was not received by deadline yesterday.