Stevensons Brothers Industries (SBI) landfill faces nearly $20,000 in fines after EPA drone flights over its Ballarto Road Cranbourne site revealed inadequately covered waste in its landfill cells.
EPA Southern Metropolitan Regional Manager Viranga Abeywickrema said leaving that kind of waste uncovered after hours could allow odour and litter to escape the property.
“The EPA licence for any landfill requires all waste to be covered at closing time each day,” Mr Abeywickrema said.
“It must be under a solid layer of soil, 15cm thick if it is solid inert waste or 30cm thick for other waste such as household garbage.
“Our officers used a drone to conduct routine inspections of the Ballarto Rd landfill after hours on a weekday in March and later on a Saturday in June and found waste exposed to the air.”
The two fines of $9,616 each are for the company’s failure to report each of the breaches of its licence conditions to EPA Victoria.
Landfills are strictly regulated, even long after they cease to operate, with conditions designed to prevent problems with odour, leachate leakage and greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the Environment Protection Act 2017 and the Infringements Act 2006, the operator has the right to have the infringement notice reviewed or be considered by a court.
Members of the public can report pollution by calling EPA’s 24-hour hotline on 1300 372 842 or providing details online at: https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/report-pollution/reporting-pollution
