EPA has finalised two of the most significant clean up projects in Victoria’s history with the completion of works at 300-400 Broderick Road, Lara and the removal of chemical waste from a Dandenong South company.
EPA Chief Executive Officer Lee Miezis said the last truckload of waste has left the Broderick Rd site marking the end of a three-year project that eliminated a significant fire risk for the Lara and Geelong communities and the state.
“On April 30, 2019, EPA exercised its powers under Section 62 of the Environment and Protection Act (1970) to clean up the site on the basis that the stockpiles of waste posed an unacceptable risk to human health, safety and the environment in the event of a fire,” Mr Miezis said.
“The amount of waste onsite, about 286,200m3, presented a challenge to remove safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively. In places, the pile was 20 metres high.
“The completion of this project on time, on budget and without any significant incidents, is a great achievement for EPA and for the project’s principal contractor Ausdecom.
“EPA also worked with a fantastic interagency operations team to ensure coordinated action in keeping the community and the environment safe. The team included members from City of Greater Geelong, Fire Rescue Victoria, Victoria Police, Worksafe, Department of Health and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.”
EPA Broderick Road Clean Up Project Manager Michael Fitzgerald said EPA, along with an independent waste expert, had tested and surveyed the site to ensure it no longer posed an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.
Mr Fitzgerald said site inspections included soil and water testing and ground penetrating radar scans to check below the surface of the former stockpiles.
“Our removal of the 286,200m3 of waste onsite included the recycling of about 22,000m3 of timber, 2000m3 of concrete and 70 large tyres,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“The presence of asbestos in the rest of the waste limited our opportunities to recycle, but what could not be recycled was sent to appropriately licensed landfills.”
The final cost of the project would be determined once all contractors had demobilised from the site and the project was officially closed out, he said.
“The current project spend as at 31 May 2022 was approximately $71 million,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“We’ll continue to use our powers to work to recover the site’s clean up costs through the courts.”
