Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has charged Used Tyre Recycling Corporation Pty Ltd (UTRC) following two breaches of an EPA statutory notice.
EPA has also charged a UTRC Director with the same two offences.
The maximum court-imposed penalty for each charge is up to $373,104.
The charges follow EPA stepping in to remove a stockpile of about one million tyres from a Stawell site that would have posed a major hazard for nearby communities if it had caught fire.
EPA CEO Nial Finegan said EPA had removed about 9500 tonnes of tyres and shred after repeated failure by the site’s owners to comply with orders to reduce the risk of fire at the site.
“On 2 August 2017, it was decided that little to no effort had been made by the stockpile’s owner to comply with a Country Fire Authority (CFA) Fire Prevention Notice or any of three EPA notices issued on the site that required the owner to reduce the risk of fire at the site and to segregate tyres into smaller piles; therefore, unacceptable environmental and community risks remained on the eve of the forthcoming fire season,” Mr Finegan said.
“In short, EPA was of the view that the stockpile appeared to have been abandoned or was being handled in a manner by the owners that was likely to cause an environmental hazard.”
Mr Finegan said if the stockpile had caught fire it would have had many environmental, economic and social risks for Stawell and its surrounds.
“The environmental impacts would have included air quality, firewater runoff into local waterways and land contamination. By removing this stockpile, EPA has removed these risks to both the local community and our environment,” Mr Finegan said.
As this matter is now before the court and EPA’s investigation is continuing, it would be inappropriate for EPA to make any further comment.