Earthworks company Hoare Bros fined for mass tyre stash
A South Geelong earthmoving company has been slapped with a $5928 fine and faces further penalties if it doesn’t remove excessive numbers of waste tyres stored at a property.
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A South Geelong earthmoving company has been slapped with a $5928 fine and faces further penalties if it doesn’t remove excessive numbers of waste tyres stored at a property.
The Environment Protection Authority fined Hoare Bros Pty Ltd for failing to comply with the terms of one of its notices after an investigation found excessive storage of waste tyres at the company’s Stonehaven property.
According to the EPA, inspections and a drone flight found the volume of waste tyres, 10,000 in total, was double that of those allowed.
For fire risk and environmental safety reasons, the registration only allows for up to 5000 passenger tyres to be stored at a premises.
Under the permit conditions the tyres must be stored in a way that minimises the risk of harm to the environment, and excess tyres would have to be disposed of to a place that can legally accept them.
The EPA found Hoare Bros was required to report on their progress but failed to meet the deadline leading to the fine.
EPA South-West Regional Manager Arun Baskaran said the company was given plenty of opportunity to do the right thing.
“Hoare Bros first received a notice to reduce the volume of waste tyres in December 2023,” Mr Baskaran said.
“Over a year later, the company still hasn’t complied with the notices and hasn’t reported to EPA, so they have been fined.”
He said the regulatory notice required the company to remove the excess waste tyres on the property and take them to a lawful place.
“Illegally stored waste tyres pose a fire risk and waste tyre producers must understand and control the risk,” he said.
“A waste tyre fire is toxic to human health and can cause catastrophic harm to the environment.
“The company will still be required to reduce the waste tyre stockpile to comply with their EPA registration.”
Originally published as Earthworks company Hoare Bros fined for mass tyre stash
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