More young people can participate in a Broadmeadows social enterprise program thanks to an EPA Victoria prosecution.

Broady Bike Kitchen provides training to disadvantaged young people, restoring bikes which might otherwise go to landfill. The program then donates bikes to young people in need of transport.

After an EPA prosecution, the County Court of Victoria ordered ELT Recycling Australia Pty Ltd pay $45,000 to local social enterprise Broady Bike Kitchen, and $8,000 in EPA Victoria’s legal costs.

EPA inspected ELT Recycling premises 28 times between January 2016 and October 2021, repeatedly advising ELT Recycling about its environmental obligations. 

Storing more than 5,000 equivalent passenger units of waste tyres requires an EPA operating licence, which the company did not have.

On 5 October 2021, EPA observed more than 8,500 equivalent passenger units of waste tyres at the site.

The matter was heard before the Honourable Justice Murphy in the County Court of Victoria in last month, after the company appealed the sentence of Her Honour Magistrate Burnside in the Magistrates’ Court in July 2024.

Waste tyres can be a high risk of harm, especially in summer months. If they catch on fire, they produce toxic smoke and are hard to put out.