Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has fined a Campbellfield company over $8,000, for depositing mixed construction and demolition waste at a site in Preston that was not licensed to accept it.
EPA officers inspected the premises and observed a MONASH BIN HIRE & DEMOLITION PTY LTD truck tipping a load of waste.
EPA Northern Metropolitan Manager Jeremy Settle said that EPA officers are regularly out in the community conducting inspections, meaning that you could be caught at any time if you are doing the wrong thing.
“While the driver advised that the load was crushed rock, delivered to fill a hole, it was clear that it was mixed construction and demolition waste, as it contained bricks, concrete, tiles and plastic, among other things. Laboratory analysis of a sample collected from the waste also later showed that it contained asbestos,” Mr Settle said.
EPA has issued MONASH BIN HIRE & DEMOLITION with an $8,261 fine.
“The driver of the truck in this instance was an officeholder of the company, who should have known better than to use waste as backfill,” Mr Settle said.
Under the Environment Protection Act 1970 and the Infringements Act 2008, the company has the right to have the decision to issue the infringement notice reviewed or alternatively to have the matter heard and determined by a court.
EPA is now preparing for new legislation to take effect in 2021, that will give it a stronger focus on prevention and substantially increase potential penalties. The legislation introduces a criminally enforceable General Environmental Duty, a responsibility for anyone whose activities may involve pollution to take reasonable steps to eliminate risk to human health and the environment.
Members of the public can report pollution via EPA’s 24-hour hotline, 1300 EPA VIC (1300 372 842) or the EPA website www.epa.vic.gov.au
EPA officers inspected the premises and observed a MONASH BIN HIRE & DEMOLITION PTY LTD truck tipping a load of waste.
EPA Northern Metropolitan Manager Jeremy Settle said that EPA officers are regularly out in the community conducting inspections, meaning that you could be caught at any time if you are doing the wrong thing.
“While the driver advised that the load was crushed rock, delivered to fill a hole, it was clear that it was mixed construction and demolition waste, as it contained bricks, concrete, tiles and plastic, among other things. Laboratory analysis of a sample collected from the waste also later showed that it contained asbestos,” Mr Settle said.
EPA has issued MONASH BIN HIRE & DEMOLITION with an $8,261 fine.
“The driver of the truck in this instance was an officeholder of the company, who should have known better than to use waste as backfill,” Mr Settle said.
Under the Environment Protection Act 1970 and the Infringements Act 2008, the company has the right to have the decision to issue the infringement notice reviewed or alternatively to have the matter heard and determined by a court.
EPA is now preparing for new legislation to take effect in 2021, that will give it a stronger focus on prevention and substantially increase potential penalties. The legislation introduces a criminally enforceable General Environmental Duty, a responsibility for anyone whose activities may involve pollution to take reasonable steps to eliminate risk to human health and the environment.
Members of the public can report pollution via EPA’s 24-hour hotline, 1300 EPA VIC (1300 372 842) or the EPA website www.epa.vic.gov.au
Reviewed 4 May 2021
