Tyre dumper, Mark Garry Fair has been convicted and fined of multiple criminal offences against the Environment Protection Act following a plea of guilty in the Wodonga Magistrates Court.
The 48-year-old from Lavington, NSW leased a warehouse in Day St, Wodonga, but instead of using it for lawful purposes, he illegally filled it with up to 64 tonnes of waste tyres creating an unacceptable fire and environmental risk. Waste tyres are a reportable priority waste and require duty holders to record their transport using Waste Tracker. Mr Fair failed to record any of the deposited tyres in Waste Tracker.
The court was told EPA had ordered the tyres be taken to a lawful place for disposal but that order was not complied with. In the end, the landlord of the warehouse was left with the clean up bill.
Fair was convicted, fined $20,000, ordered to pay $60,299 compensation to the landlord and $9,902 to EPA in legal costs.
"This was a particularly important case because of the proximity to a public facility that cared for vulnerable people. That quantity of waste tyres would cause a major health risk if they caught on fire," said EPA North East Regional Manager Narelle Watters.
"Dumping of waste tyres has become a major concern with EPA seeing multiple cases where tyres in huge volumes have been dumped and the cost of proper disposal left to the community. At least in this case, the landlord will be able to pursue the perpetrator to recover their costs."
