Emily Chapman Laing
The plight of locals dealing with the “stinky mess” of the SBI landfill continues, eight months after the plaguing odour began.
Residents in the areas surrounding the landfill have been tortured with the “putrid” smell as the back and forth between the EPA and SBI drags on.
“Nobody who is affected is happy about it,” one local man said.
“It has made for a very unpleasant summer and we have all suffered enough.
“SBI should be shut down permanently.”
“The actual smell wakes me up in the middle of the night,” said another resident.
“It is so strong it enters the house and lingers for several hours after it is gone from outside.”
Local man Trevor, who did not wish to share is surname, has suffered from breathing problems which he attributes to the inert tip.
“I moved to Cranbourne in 2015 and bought land in 2014 by developers,” he said.
“I wasn’t warned by them or the shire that any Inert tip was and had been passed to open within my vicinity, being the Casiana Estate, 3 kilometres away.
“Prior to moving to Cranbourne I’d never once had any type of breathing problems, now I’m a bad asthmatic.
“The worst day l had, I had to get driven to my doctors, l suffered from disorientation, headache, chest pain, stinging eyes, rasping throat and nausea.
“Other days I’ve got in my car and driven to Frankston.”
“The biggest current issue we have is the reasoning behind why SBI has not been able to fix the issue permanently by installing flares,” one resident said.
“Some of the reasons they have given us sound like a joke, but you can visit the SBI website for their updates and you will see for yourself.”
The obstructions reported by SBI include conditions that are too windy, not windy enough and temperature inversions.
“It is obvious they have no idea how to fix it and should be closed down.”
Many affected residents were weary giving comment, wishing to remain anonymous as they told Star News they believed their local Facebook community group regarding the landfill had been infiltrated by SBI.
The latest update from SBI, given on Friday 3 March, labels “wind stripping” as the unremitting cause of the detectable odour.
“SBI continue to tweak various flare and gas field parameters to get the best result possible given the setup currently in place,” SBI said.
“SBI are juggling immediate, short, medium and long term options to reduce the migration of odour beyond our premises boundary and acknowledge and appreciate the reports from the community that provide detailed descriptions of detections.”
The EPA hosted an information session regarding the landfill on Thursday 9 March, allowing affected residents to ask questions about the ongoing issue.
Hosted by EPA Senior Environment Protection Officer Viranga Abeywickrema, the hour-long meeting provided much needed updates for locals, though no definitive answer to the issue has been given.
Residents present for the session had many queries, including concerns about respirable crystalline silica, which is known to cause silicosis, a disabling or even fatal condition.
“It’s highly unlikely,” said one EPA scientist.
“We’ve done studies at similar landfills before, we didn’t get any types of respirable silica.
“But SBI should have personnel monitoring for those sorts of substances to meet their WorkSafe obligations.
“The assumption is, if the staff aren’t being exposed to it, then the community won’t be.”
The scientist’s response did little to quell the silica dust concerns of locals, who pushed their unease, with the EPA taking note of the issue for follow up.
“Our cars are covered in [the dust] almost daily,” one resident said.
“I would like evidence that the air that my family is breathing around my home is safe.”
“The amount of dust covering cars, outdoor furniture, driveways, and external doors is astonishing, especially when the wind blows from the direction of SBI,” another resident said.
“It never used to be like that.”
Residents have been encouraged to report any sightings of dust coming from the landfill alongside their odour reports.
“The latest environmental audit was submitted by SBI in December,” Mr Abeywickrema said.
“EPA officers found that the auditor made 42 recommendations, many of those requiring immediate action.
“The recommendations covered a whole suite of non-compliances across multiple aspects of landfill management.
“The EPA has responded to that in a really strong manner by requiring SBI to provide an action plan by close of business [Wednesday 8 March].
“We are currently undertaking a review of that action plan to ensure that SBI is proposing resolution to each of those recommendations in the most expedient manner.”
With thousands of pages of information received from SBI, EPA officers have their work cut out for them.
“We were provided with about 2000 pages of documents. Once we’re done assessing, we can assess whether compliance with the notice was actually met.”
The EPA suspended SBI’s operating licence on 3 October 2022, however this decision was undone by VCAT who stayed the suspension until a full hearing could be held.
The formal hearing is scheduled for 17 April 2022, where residents are hoping to finally have a concrete solution to what will be a nearly year-long subjugation by stink.
Research collated by air scientists at the EPA gave welcome data, with findings perfectly aligning with local resident’s reports.
“Our observations of odour overlap,” said an EPA Air and Odour scientist.
“We’re actually picking up the odour, the same odour that [residents] are picking up which is really encouraging.
“Our data matches, which validates what [residents] are saying.”
The EPA has, however, run into some problems in monitoring air quality as part of their research.
The EPA monitoring station was vandalised, with solar panels stolen, which has left the station unusable since 3 March.
Residents of Brookland Greens and surrounds hold their breath as they frustratingly await SBI’s formal hearing in April.
