Water cannons and 24-hour security personnel have been installed at a Brooklyn recycling facility that was deemed a fire risk earlier this month.
The Sunshine Groupe, which runs a Bunting Road facility under the name of Action Recovery and Recycling, was slapped with a fire suppression order by the Environment Protection Authority on March 2.
The site is just about 400 metres from homes in Brooklyn.
EPA western metropolitan regional manager Stephen Lansdell the order was not something used lightly.
“This is a very serious direction under Section 62B of the Environment Protection Act 1970, a legal order that demands action immediately,” he said.
“The actions it specifies are there to stop any potential fire in its tracks, to protect the community and the environment.
“EPA can report that fire prevention measures at the Sunshine Groupe recycling facility on Bunting Road, Brooklyn, have already made the site substantially safer.
“Following an order from EPA, the site now has firefighting gear, including water cannons in place, 24-hour security and cleared access for the emergency services.
“EPA officers have continued to closely monitor the site since they issued the company with an official order on March 2.
“The order was issued during a joint agency inspection by EPA, Fire Rescue Victoria and Brimbank council.”
Mr Landsell said the Sunshine Groupe’s Bunting Road site, which takes construction and demolition waste, had been under the EPA’s watch.
The company has been banned from accepting waste timber at another part of its site, and in 2018 its licence to operate the nearby Western Land Reclamation tip was suspended for breaching conditions and overfilling.
