A Benalla-based company that was instructed to bury asbestos contaminated demolition waste at a Tatong property was this week fined $2500.
Extons Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Benalla Magistrates’ Court on Monday to one count of dumping, depositing or discarding industrial waste on land at the premises.
The matter relates to renovation work that was carried out at a Tatong property that required asbestos filled roofs of disused pig pens be removed.
Extons was contracted to undertake excavation work and then directed by a construction company to demolish the pig pens, dig a trench and bury the material.
Extons buried the material in two separate trenches, the court was told, but was unaware the materials were contaminated with asbestos.
In sentencing, Magistrate Watkins took into account the company’s good record but noted it should have taken proactive steps to ensure compliance with environmental requirements.
Extons was fined $2500, without conviction.
Late last year, the construction company, Trehem Pty Ltd and its director, Ross Alexander McMahen, were fined a total of $15,000 after admitting to burying the materials at the property, despite knowing they were contaminated with asbestos. The director was fined $5000, without conviction and his company was convicted and fined $10,000.
The property owner, Ian Philip Cuming, was also charged with one count of permitting to be dumped, discarded or deposited industrial waste at the premises. He fronted the Benalla Magistrates’ Court on 25 November and was fined $5000, without conviction.