Charges:

1. Did dump industrial waste at unlicensed site at Koorlong from 11.10.2017 to 11.07.2018, contrary to s.27A(2)(a).

2. Did contravene requirements of a clean up notice at Koorlong on or about 03.12.2018, contrary to s.62A(3).

3. Did fail to comply with reporting requirements of clean up notice at Koorlong on or about 05.12.2018, contrary to s.62A(3)(a).

This matter concerned a large tyre stockpile (in exceedance of 30,000 tyres) that was accumulated on private land in Mildura, Victoria (the Premises) by Renu Waste between 2017 and 2018.  The Premises was owned by Cristal Mining Australia Limited (Cristal Mining) but being used by Renu Waste.

This matter arises after Renu Waste was granted a Planning Permit in May 2016 by Mildura Rural City Council to operate a waste receiving and processing facility at the Premises. 

Several months later, EPA granted Renu Waste with a Research Development and Demonstration Approval permit (RD&D) for a waste to energy plant to process shredded tyres. One of the key reasons EPA approved the RD&D application was because Renu Waste provided a Risk Management and Emergency Plan to EPA advising that the:

‘Number of whole tyres on site will not exceed 500…and will always  be under the EPA 5,000 threshold maximum number’

After the RD&D permit was issued, Renu Waste began entering into a range of commercial agreements with local tyre retailers in and around Mildura to collect their waste tyres.  The tyres were then transported to the Premises and stockpiled.

In March 2018, EPA conducted an inspection at the Premises which revealed that approximately 30,000 tyres had been deposited on the site.

Consequently, the EPA issued Renu Waste with a Clean Up Notice (First CUN) to reduce the number of tyres on the Premises to less than 5000 tyres by July 2018.  Subsequently and in April 2018, Cristal Mining advised Renu Waste it could no longer use the Premises because it failed to meet contractual obligations regarding the use of the Premises but would be provided access for the purposes of complying with the First CUN.

EPA conducted a compliance inspection in July 2018 concerning the First CUN and it was observed the size of the tyre stockpiles had increased. 

In August 2018, Renu Waste was advised its RD&D permit was revoked. The First CUN was then also revoked and a fresh CUN (Second CUN) was issued in its place requiring Renu Waste to:

a) cease accepting industrial waste: and

b) to remove all industrial waste (namely tyres) from the Premises by November 2018.

The Second CUN was not complied with.