EPA has reached a milestone in its new approach to monitoring and regulating the risks posed by closed landfills in Victoria.
Last week the EPA issued a Post Closure Pollution Abatement Notice (PC PAN) to a former landfill site for the first time since August 2010.
The Hastings Road site operated as a landfill from 1974 to 1997 and is now a recycling yard.
Daniel Hunt, Field Team Leader, Southern Metro, issued the new reformed PC PAN, after following the process outlined in the ‘Closed Landfill Guidelines’ that were developed in 2012.
The site operators are now required to regularly use EPA appointed environmental auditors to independently ensure they are managing environmental risks.
While these notices have been used as a statutory tool for over 25 years, there were no auditing requirements on closed landfills prior to the methane leak at Brookland Greens housing estate in Cranbourne in 2008.
Since the development of the new arrangements, at least half of Victoria’s 90 closed landfills have been inspected by the EPA.
Tim Turnbull, EPA Manager of Specialist Regulatory Services, says the remaining landfills will be re-assessed over the next two years to determine if new PC PANs are required to manage their environmental risks.
"Great work is being done in this space across all regions of EPA," he said.