The NSW branch of the Environmental Protection Authority has confirmed it has prosecuted a man over two separate asbestos incidents that included illegal dumping of asbestos-contaminated waste. The charges were brought against Christopher Binos in both the Parramatta and Wollongong Local courts.
The charges relate to activity throughout 2019. In January of that year, an elderly resident of Croom (near Shellharbour) responded to an ad for free fill for a driveway.
Over the next month, approximately fifty trucks deposited asbestos-contaminated fill, at an estimated volume of more than 1,000 tonnes, along the driveway, which is nearby to a waterway.
In September of the same year, Mr Binos offered the free fill to a landowner in the northwest Sydney suburb of Vineyard. The property owner wanted the fill to assist in levelling a paddock and creating a horse arena. It is estimated that the fill supplied by Mr Binos amounted to 2,400 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated fill on the property.
The EPA issued notices to Mr Binos to clean up the contaminated fill at both locations, but he did not comply.
The owner of the Vineyard property explained that they have spent more than $60,000 remediating the damage caused by Mr Binos.
In total, Mr Binos was fined $450,000. The Executive Director of Regulatory Operations for the EPA, Stephen Beaman, said that the fines would send a strong message that contamination and dumping of this nature would not be tolerated.