Wednesday, 07 July 2010 1:23pm
In the latest move in a concerted EPA Victoria campaign to tackle a Melbourne industrial estate's dust and odour problems, EPA CEO John Merritt today said a $35,000 fine imposed on SITA Australia Pty Ltd sends a "clear message" to others operating in the same precinct.
Sunshine Magistrates' Court fined SITA and ordered it to pay costs of $10,000 after it pleaded guilty to an odour-related breach of licence conditions at its composting facility on the Brooklyn industrial estate in Melbourne's western suburbs.
The prosecution followed odour complaints by nearby residents – who have complained loud and long about dust and odour from the estate.
EPA chief executive officer John Merritt said the fine should indicate to others operating on the estate that "you cannot continue in the way you have – with total disregard for both the environment and the community you operate in".
"Fix the way you do business or be prepared to provide answers to both the community and the court," Merritt said in a statement on the SITA fine.
The EPA has committed to Brooklyn residents "that we will hold businesses in the estate to account, this prosecution is evidence of that commitment," the statement said.
A website specifically to provide "the latest updates from all agencies" on what is happening on the estate will go live shortly, according to the EPA.
An EPA-specific website on the troubled precinct reports that a May meeting of a community reference group was told 18 companies in the Brooklyn area had received Pollution Abatement Notices in recent weeks, seven offensive odour investigations were underway and an independent dust consultant had visited 15 of the area's top dust emitters.