Charges:

1. Breach condition of a permission at Bandiana on 10 May 2022, contrary to s.64A.

2. Engage in prescribed activity without permit at Bandiana on 10 May 2022, contrary to s.46(1).

Immix Integrated Metal Management Pty Ltd and its director James Anthony Suggate were charged over stockpiles kept at the company's site on Whytes Road, Bandiana, which exceeded the total volume it was permitted to hold at the site.

Immix accepts scrap metal waste from other sites for sorting and recycling, and an EPA registration or permit based on the amount of material being stored would have included strict environmental conditions for the operation.

EPA officers inspected the site on 10 May 2022 and carried out volumetric surveys that revealed the site held around 9,200 cubic metres of waste.

The charges heard in the Wodonga Magistrates' Court covered the company's failure to obtain the correct permit, and its failure to report the volume of material onsite to EPA Victoria in accordance with its registration.

The volume of waste metal at Immix's Bandiana site during the May 2022 inspection required it to hold the higher-level permission, being a permit, and almost the highest permission, being an operating licence.

The court ordered Immix topay $5,000 to the court fund and ordered the director, James Anthony Suggate to pay $2,500. Both avoided a conviction after pleading guilty to the charges.