A Brooklyn tip operator has had its licence to accept waste at its landfill suspended by the Environment Protection Authority.
Western Land Reclamation, operated by Sunshine Groupe, was issued with an EPA notice on March 27 to show why its licence should not be suspended for filling landfill cells above permitted height, causing dust and odour pollution beyond its site and failing to adequately rehabilitate its landfill cells.
In a statement released on Thursday last week, EPA chief executive Nial Finegan said WLR had failed to provide evidence of having addressed the issues or a plan of how it would do so.
“The community would expect us to take this action to safeguard their local environment,” he said. “They would not have supported WLR continuing to earn revenue from the landfill levy rebate by accepting waste while it was so clearly in breach of the Environment Protection Act 1970.
“Suspending the licence will give WLR the time to adequately address the issues that EPA has raised with them and return the site to an appropriate environmental standard and condition. Once this has been achieved, EPA can then allow a return to normal operations.”
Mr Finegan said the suspension followed nearly two decades of action by the EPA to enforce regulations at the tip site over dust, odours, groundwater contamination and other environmental issues.
The suspension comes after WLR was criticised by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal following the latest proceedings initiated by the EPA.
“WLR’s practices have not demonstrated an adequate regard to either the licence conditions or to industry accepted standard landfill management practices in Victoria,” VCAT stated in its decision to amend the tip’s licence.
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan, who last month called for an audit into $500,000 state government funding received by the Sunshine Groupe in 2012-13, said the licence suspension signalled a shift in the EPA’s approach.
Sunshine Groupe’s Christian Buxton has been contacted for comment.
