EPA Victoria has fined a Bacchus Marsh company, Ag Store Pty Ltd, over a 12-metre-long pile of burning industrial waste.
The company was fined $9246 after EPA officers found the burnt remains of industrial waste in Lascelles in north-west Victoria last September.
The pile included plastic covers used for grain silage, drink cans, spray cans, plastic grease cartridges, metal buckets, PVC plastic, glass, cardboard, an oil filter, tyres and a burnt mattress frame on top of the pile.
The pile was approximately 12 metres long, five metres wide and two metres high, and was smouldering with a small area of fire still burning when they arrived at the Sunraysia Highway Site on September 27.
EPA North-West regional manager Dr Scott Pigdon says whether the burning was deliberate or accidental, it was a source of toxic smoke and possible contamination of the soil and local waterways.
“This was both illegal and hazardous to human health and the environment. Industrial waste like this must be taken to a properly licensed landfill or recycling facility. It’s the only way to do the right thing by the environment and your community,” he said.
“Leaving the ash and partially burnt waste there means the next rain will take the material straight to the nearest creek or stormwater drain.”
EPA instructed the company to stop depositing and burning waste at the premises, and to remove the burnt waste to a facility that is licensed and properly equipped to accept it.
“The atmosphere and the nearest creek are not the right places for your industrial waste. Anyone can pick up a phone and report similar waste fires to EPA,” Dr Pigdon said.
Under the Environment Protection Act 2017 and the Infringements Act 2006, the company has the right to have the infringement notice reviewed or be considered by a court.
