Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has fined a Thomastown company for the second time in two months, hitting it with an additional $15,500 in fines over its illegal tyre stockpile.
EPA Metro Manager Daniel Hunt said ELT Recycling Australia Pty Ltd had been issued with two fines of $7,773 each for failing to bring its stockpile below the legal limit of 5,000 equivalent passenger units (EPU) and put in place an inventory system to manage its stockpile.
“The size of the stockpile at the company’s Aylward Avenue site was the equivalent of about 35,000 standard car tyres, and it has failed to take any action to reduce this number, despite being issued with multiple statutory notices by EPA over the past 18 months,” Mr Hunt said.
Mr Hunt said the latest fines followed a penalty of over $7,500 issued to the company in December for storing about 11,000 waste tyres of various sizes at its premises without an appropriate licence.
“Large tyre stockpiles can pose a major fire risk, cause pollution of the atmosphere and are incredibly difficult to extinguish. Once ignited, they are hard to control and generate hazardous smoke that can cause a health risk to the community,” he said.
"Many of this company’s tyres are stored under high voltage power lines, posing additional risks for fire fighters and possible electricity disruptions to industry and the community in the event of a fire.”
“This stockpile is an environmental hazard waiting to happen and we’re looking into other possible sanctions under the Environment Protection Act 1970 to further hold this company to account.”
Mr Hunt said sites that stored more than the equivalent of 5,000 standard car tyres without a licence were in breach of EPA waste tyre regulations that came into force in 2015.
“EPA tightened tyre regulations in 2015 to ensure the Victorian public was better protected from the risk of tyre fires from unsafe stockpiles,” he said.
“The regulations require premises that store more than 40 tonnes or 5,000 waste tyres to obtain a works approval and licence from EPA, which ELT Recycling Australia does not have and nor has it applied for.”
If the community suspects someone is illegally stockpiling tyres or taking them to a place that cannot lawfully accept waste tyres, they are encouraged to contact EPA’s 24-hour pollution hotline on 1300 EPA VIC (1300 372 842).