Complaints not wasted

By Bridget Brady
THE operators of a waste transfer station in Cranbourne have been fined $5841 after more than 100 odour complaints.
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) fined Consolidated Waste after odour complaints at its Cemetery Road site during a two-month period.
EPA’s south metro manager Susanna Young said EPA officers visited the site and found the smell was caused by composting green waste that had been stockpiled and started to decompose.
“Normally a waste transfer station accepts and processes waste within a certain timeframe, but in this instance a problem was encountered with the end receiver and the waste did not get moved on,” Ms Young said.
The EPA issued a notice to the company to control the odour and said there were some improvements, but calls from the community persisted.
Last month the News reported Cranbourne residents had complained about a foul smell from the site. One resident described the smell as“rotten manure and a dead corpse”.
“This incident may have been avoided if the company had an environmental management plan in place to identify risks and prevent incidents like this from occurring,” Ms Young said.
Consolidated Waste has 20 days to pay the fine, seek an internal review or have the matter dealt with in court.
Consolidated Waste did not provide comment before the News went to print.
To report pollution call 9695 2777.