A Maryborough man has been fined $10,000 and ordered to pay thousands in court costs over an illegal stockpile of waste on a property on Sutton Road, Maryborough.
Steven Landsborough, pleaded guilty to two charges laid by Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) in the Maryborough Magistrates Court.
The charges related to depositing industrial waste at a premises that was not licensed to accept it, and a failure to comply with an EPA Clean Up Notice that required him to remove the waste for proper disposal.
Magistrate Kelly fined Landsborough $10,000, ordered him to pay EPA costs of $4260.40, and imposed an order requiring him to clean up the remainder of the waste by 18 August 2021, in order to avoid further penalties.
The case began with an inspection in January 2018, when EPA officers observed significant volumes of industrial waste including scrap metal, tyres, electrical wire, wire mesh, plastics, cooling panels, insulation, 200 litre drums, oil filters, black plastic tubing, wooden pallets and e-waste.
The premises was not licensed to accept the waste, so EPA issued a Clean Up Notice requiring Mr Landsborough to remove all industrial waste from the premises by 31 October 2018.
At the October 2018 deadline, EPA officers found that there was still some waste on the site. EPA issued a second Clean Up Notice giving Landsborough until 8 March 2019 to complete the job, but returned in January to find that additional waste had been deposited at the premises.
At the March 2019 deadline, EPA officers inspected the premises and found that industrial waste on the premises had not been removed.
On 17 February 2021, the day before the court case, EPA officers observed that there were still stockpiles of industrial waste on the premises.
EPA North West Regional Manager Dr Scott Pigdon says EPA takes a zero tolerance approach to the illegal dumping of waste.
"In this case, the operator of the premises had been told that the stockpile was illegal, and he had been given plenty of time and a clear deadline for the clean up but failed to comply," Dr Pigdon said.
"Illegal stockpiling of waste is an unacceptable hazard and any landholder has a duty to understand their responsibilities to the environment and the community," he said.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Members of the public can report pollution by calling EPA's 24 hour hotline on 1300 EPA VIC (1300 372 842).
