A Bendigo court yesterday (6 Dec) issued a court order that upholds the conditions of an EPA Victoria notice directing a Lockwood property owner to clean up and manage an estimated 10,000 illegally dumped tyres.
A Bendigo woman, the owner of the Lockwood South property, was told by the court that an Environmental Action Notice issued by EPA on 8 September 2023 requiring the cleanup was legally enforceable and must be obeyed.
“The presence of up to 10,000 waste tyres on a property not licensed to accept them in regional Victoria in the summer fire season is a risk far too hostile to the safety of the community,” EPA Acting Executive Director Operations Rachel Gualano said.
“As we have done in the past with similar cases, once the issue was detected, we moved quickly to protect the environment and then to remove the risk. We took action to ensure that the expense must be met by those responsible, not Victorians.
“The court order is legally enforceable and a contempt of court if appropriate action is not taken.
“We are focussing on waste tyres and those involved in generating, transporting and accepting them without the required licence. EPA’s Waste Tracker, must be used to track movement of reportable priority waste, including tyres, and provides invaluable intelligence to the EPA into the movement of waste in Victoria. It is an offence for anyone involved in the movement of waste to fail to use Waste Tracker
Ms Gualano said the investigation into the movement of waste tyres, including suppliers, transporters and receivers would continue. She also reminds people that the storage of more than 5m3 (one dump truck) of waste tyres at a premises at any time requires an EPA permission for the activity to be lawful.
