Cade Lucas
A Brooklyn recycling company recently shut down by the Environmental Protection Authority has been ordered to remove industrial waste from its premises too.
Limbourne Group, trading as Apex Waste Control, had its permission to operate revoked by the EPA in October after the company repeatedly failed to abide by regulatory notices issued against it.
EPA Victoria has now issued an Environmental Action Notice (EAN) against Limbourne Group, ordering it remove large stockpiles of industrial waste from its facility on Bunting Road, Brooklyn,
EPA officers catalogued nine large stockpiles of mixed industrial waste on the site, with several measuring more than 10 metres by 20 metres and up to 3 metres high, containing soil, mattresses, tyres, rubble, concrete, timber, plastic, metal and broken ceramics.
The EAN requires Limbourne Group to cease accepting industrial waste at the premises, remove all waste for disposal, and provide paperwork to prove it was accepted at properly licensed facilities.
EPA western metropolitan regional manager Jeremy Settle said EPA licences and notices come with strict conditions.
“An EAN lists what the duty holder must do, gives a clear deadline, and warns that it is backed by potential fines and prosecution,” Mr Settle said.
“Most businesses want to do the right thing, many comply with a verbal request, for some the EAN is a helpful document that lists exactly what they need to do, and some others get the message when they see it’s a legal document. For those who don’t, there are penalties,” he said.
Limbourne Group had been operating as a skip bin hire and materials recycling business. EPA shutdown the company after it failed to comply with notices requiring it to prepare an emergency management plan and fire risk assessment, stop accepting waste, provide documents that track the collection and receival of waste, and make its stockpiles of combustible and recyclable waste comply with safety regulations.
Company director, Nicholas Limbourne, was also deemed to not be a fit and proper person to run a company with EPA permission.
The company had earlier been found guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court of failing to comply with EPA notices and was fined $45,000 when the decision was handed down in May.
