It's hard to put a number on the sheer amount of rubble and other bushfire waste that is awaiting removal from the Nambucca Valley.

But a conservative estimate to our council from a contractor has put the figure at around 500 cubic metres per property.

With over 60 houses razed by the Kian Rd fire, that amounts to around 30,000 cubic metres of waste. And that's not counting the sheds, cars, tractors and other items that also need to be removed from properties where houses were spared.

To put this into perspective, our Valley collects a total of around 10,000 cubic metres of landfill waste each year.

Today a horde of representatives from the EPA, Department of Public Works, and main bushfire waste contractor Laing O'Rourke visited the Valley's landfill site to negotiate with council staff about our capacity to accept the non-hazardous portion of that waste into our landfill.

Assistant General Manager Engineering Services Paul Gallagher said the tentative number at this stage is 10,000 cubic metres, which will take one year off the remaining seven-year life of our tip.

But there's still no definitive answer where the rest will go.

A NSW Disaster Recovery spokesperson said: "We have been working closely with Nambucca Shire Council on the safest and most logical way to dispose of the bushfire waste. We have heard the council's concerns that their current facilities are too small to take the significant volume of waste".

"If local disposal is not an option for some of the waste, we are also exploring other options which may include taking the waste to another Council area or transporting it to Queensland.

"Asbestos waste will be disposed of at licensed landfills outside of the Nambucca local government area."

But Mayor Rhonda Hoban said this is the same response she received two weeks ago. And she's furious it's taken this long to get to this point.

"Nothing has changed and another two weeks has gone by. My concern is it's still going to be months rather than weeks until things start to happen, and every day is a day too long for our bushfire survivors," she said.

"The clean-up is a key factor in helping people feel like something is happening. It has a huge impact on people's mental health to wake up every day and be faced with that burnt rubble and be reminded of the events of that day, and what they've lost.

"I hear from locals on a daily basis about the troubles they're having clearing their properties. And they're upset when they go on the Hub website and see that some South Coast areas have already received their dates and have their clean-ups happening."

Mr Gallagher said one of the top guys from Laing O-Rourke reiterated to him today that they're confident they'll have the job finished by their June 30 deadline: "He said 'if that means we have to cart it to Timbuktoo, that's what we'll do'".

According to the Hub, Laing O'Rourke will be contacting registered property owners in South Arm from this week.

But both Mr Gallagher and Mayor Hoban are concerned about a few other issues which they're yet to be given a direct answer about.

In late 2019, the EPA waived the waste levy for bushfire generated waste. But what is unclear about the arrangement is whether the levy is also being waived for the landfill cover materials.

And in order to cover a year's worth of landfill from these fires, the Council would need to buy and cart in a large amount of fill to cover the waste according to EPA regulations, and at significant cost to Council.

Mr Gallagher is also concerned that many affected residents have not yet registered on the State Government's waste removal site.

"If they don't do that by a certain time, are they going to be left holding the bag? Noone has been able to give us an answer for that," Mr Gallagher said.

Details on removal of waste after bushfires

Special event | Recovering from disaster