Charges 1 to 11:

Did permit industrial waste to be dumped, deposited or abandoned at unlicensed site at Glen Park between 4 April 2019 and 14 March 2020, contrary to s.27A(2)(a).

Charge 12:

Did fail to comply with waste abatement notice at Glen Park on 15 July 2021, contrary to s.62A(3).

EPA Victoria told Ballarat Magistrates' Court hobby farmer Stephen Martin allowed 2,400 cubic metres of soil mixed with construction and demolition waste to be dumped on Glen Park farmland leased from Ballarat City Council.

He pleaded guilty to 11 charges of permitting industrial waste to be dumped at a premises that was not licensed to accept it, and one charge of contravening a clean-up notice from EPA.

The court denied an application to order Mr Martin to remove all industrial waste from the site, but he is to continue engagement with Parks Victoria and EPA to fund and achieve sensible remediation of the land. Mr Martin was fined $10,000 and also ordered to pay EPA's legal costs of $3,408.

An investigation by EPA's Environmental Crime Branch between April 2019 and November 2020 and covert surveillance by DELWP in February 2020, following reports from members of the public, let to the charges and eventual fine.

In January 2021, EPA served a Clean-up Notice on Mr Martin requiring the removal of all the industrial waste to a properly licensed facility by 31 May 2021, but he failed to comply.