The operator of a Geelong based skip bin hire company has been convicted in the Ballarat Magistrates Court after he pled guilty to charges over an excessive amount of industrial and household waste at Nintingbool.
John Damian Norris who runs Geelong business Transformer Bin Hire was convicted and fined $4,000 and ordered to pay EPA Victoria’s costs of $2,086.
The charges alleged the man dumped and deposited industrial waste on land that was not licensed to accept it and then failed to comply with an EPA Environmental Action Notice.
The notice required him to cease accepting and remove all industrial waste from a premises at 2 Millar Court, Nintingbool to a facility that was properly licensed to accept it.
The case started with a pollution report to EPA from Golden Plains Shire Council. Investigators from the newly formed EPA Environmental Crime Branch found the property was being used as a waste facility and was covered in waste-filled shipping containers, vehicles, skip bins, pallets of aluminium cans, mattresses, piles of waste and evidence of fires.
EPA told the court Norris had been given plenty of opportunity to clean up the mess. Between October 2020 and August 2021, officers of Golden Plains Shire and EPA conducted multiple inspections, and the operator was issued with an official warning before being issued with a formal Environmental Action Notice from EPA, instructing him to cease accepting waste, refrain from burning any waste and clean up the site.
An inspection on 30 August 2021 showed no sign of a clean-up and the amount of waste had actually increased.
Reports that waste was being moved onto adjoining land brought EPA back three days later. The officers found fire scars and piles of ash containing remnants of waste. There was a stockpile of mixed waste measuring 19m x 16m x 2m that appeared ready to be burnt. EPA issued the accused with a prohibition notice saying “You must not allow waste to be burnt at the premises,” but at 11.30 pm that night, the waste stockpile was burnt and another person is facing charges by the EPA for this fire.
Magistrate Ron Saines remarked that the offending required a significant penalty because the activity had continued, even after council fines and an official warning from EPA.
EPA Executive Director Operations, Mark Rossiter, says the case is a clear warning to other offenders.
“An official warning or remedial notice from EPA won’t go away if you ignore it. This case went as far as a fine, court costs and a criminal conviction, and in major cases the Environment Protection Act 2017 even provides for imprisonment,” Mr Rossiter said.
“Every Victorian and every business has a responsibility under the act to take all reasonable measures to protect the environment and the community from the effects of pollution,” he said.
“The community deserves that protection, and every day EPA officers are conducting inspections and following up on reports from the public to provide it.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The charges related to dumping/depositing or permitting the dumping/depositing of industrial waste in contravention of Section 27A(2)(a) of the Environment Act 1970, and contravening an Environmental Action Notice under Section 290(1) of the Environment Protection Act 2017.
