New ‘waste crime’ laws are set to be introduced as the toxic waste dump in Lara, Geelong is now halfway to being cleared.
At its largest size, the dump was so large it held 320,000 cubic metres of toxic waste and was such an issue that emergency evacuation plans were put in place at a nearby school when the local CFA raised concerns over fire risks at the site. The site became the catalyst for environmental authorities in the state to appeal to the courts for greater powers.
Duncan Pendreigh, the EPA Director of High-Risk Sites, explained that if the organisation had been given greater powers over the site initially, “we could have put a stop to the stockpiling ourselves”.
“But we didn’t have those powers at that time. It was all done through the planning system.”
The site has cost the Victorian taxpayers $36 million to date, with the state government allocating $100 million for the site’s remediation, but EPA Chief Executive Lee Miezis hopes it won’t reach that.
The contractor tasked with the cleanup of the site wanted to establish a recycling centre, but the amount of asbestos meant the waste had to go to landfill.
“We are halfway through … there are lots of uncertainties as we move forward in terms of what the total costs will be, but we continue to pursue cost recovery through the courts,” Mr Miezis said.
From July, the Victorian EPA will have greater powers in preventing harm to the environment and public health.
Those powers have passed through state parliament following a public enquiry into the EPA, and means the EPA will have greater power including broader licensing requirements for waste sites, with stronger and “stringent” conditions, Mr Miezes explained.
“We expect what’s happened here is, trucks came from all across Melbourne thinking that this was an OK place to put the waste. Under the new laws, they’d be required to check that,” Mr Miezis said.
“Waste crime is becoming pretty complex, we see that not only in issues like this but illegal dumping of hazardous chemicals and the like.”
“Everyone’s got a duty to avoid risks to people’s health and safety, and that’s kind of the basis of these new laws.”