A smelly slap

By Bridget Brady
The EPA fined SITA Environmental Solutions almost $6000 last week after a host of complaints from residents in July about the stink emanating from the landfill.
Hampton Park resident Tony O’Hara said it was a small fine for a company that has plans to build a compost plant valued at between $70 million and $80 million near the landfill.
“I don’t think it’s a huge sum of money,” Mr O’Hara said.
“But it’s good to see that SITA did respond and has attempted to mitigate the odour problem.”
Mr O’Hara said it proved the complaints paid off, and residents who had any problem should never be afraid to take it on.
EPA southern metro manager Cameron Brown said SITA was fined for failing to adhere to a licence condition that “offensive odours must not be discharged beyond the boundary premises”.
“It is very important companies adhere to these conditions – having to live with odour on a daily basis is upsetting and impedes on people’s right to live in an environment that does not have an adverse impact on them,” Mr Brown said.
SITA told the EPA the smells were due to increased landfill gas production after a larger than normal operating cell, and also wet weather that increased the waste degradation in the cell.
Mr Brown said there had been a reduction in complaints since SITA put measures in place to reduce the odour.
“This is a good start for local residents, but EPA will continue to monitor the site, particularly with summer ahead of us.”