By Goya Dmytryshchak
Hobsons Bay’s recycling crisis is over after SKM’s Laverton North site was cleared to accept recyclables again after an inspection on Tuesday.
The Environment Protection Authority closed down SKM Services’ Coolaroo and Laverton North sites on February 15, due to fire risks.
The Coolaroo site remains non-compliant and cannot yet accept recyclables.
Hobsons Bay residents had been urged to hold on to as much recyclable waste as possible and only send paper and cardboard to landfill as the state’s recycling crisis entered its fourth week.
Hobsons Bay mayor Jonathon Marsden said the municipality’s recycling had been going to landfill.
“We are incredibly disappointed and frustrated that we, like so many Victorian councils, are left in this challenging situation – and we know our community feels the same,” he said.
EPA chief executive Cathy Wilkinson last Friday said SKM Pty Ltd and its director had been charged over a 2017 fire at its Coolaroo waste recycling site.
“As this matter is now before the courts, further comment would be inappropriate,” she said.
In response to the crisis, the upper house of the Victorian Parliament last week endorsed a parliamentary inquiry into recycling and waste management.
