Budget Waste, director Michael Calleija fined for illegally accepting waste in Arndell Park
A waste company and its sole director have been slapped with more than $330,000 in fines after illegally accepting and stockpiling massive mounds of rubbish in western Sydney.
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A waste company and its sole director have been fined a total of more than $330,000 after displaying a “blatant disregard for environmental law” by accepting and stockpiling massive mounds of rubbish in western Sydney.
Earlier this month, the Land and Environment convicted and fined Budget Waste $234,000 after it admitted failing to comply with a prevention notice.
The company’s sole director and shareholder, Michael Calleija, was convicted and fined $100,000 after pleading guilty to the same charge, plus an allegation of failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent Budget Waste’s offence.
Justice Sarah Pritchard’s judgment reveals Budget Waste’s offence began in May 2022, when the Environment Protection Authority issued a prevention notice requiring it to “immediately cease” receiving waste at an Arndell Park site.
The authority issued the notice after an inspection revealed what it described as “a range of potential licence breaches, including excessively large and tall waste stockpiles at the site”.
Despite receiving the notice, Justice Pritchard said Budget Waste had continued receiving waste at or near the site in question for a period of almost seven months.
She said Mr Calleija, as a director of the company, knew or ought to have known an offence was being committed, and that he had failed to take all reasonable steps to stop that happening.
Mr Calleija also failed to comply with a supplementary prevention notice served in November 2022, about a month before the offending ended.
The judgment shows that during the same month the supplementary notice was served, Mr Calleija spoke to one of the authority’s staff on the phone, explaining why his company had continued to accept waste.
“If we cease accepting waste then we will not be able to afford the cost to remove the waste and will need to go into liquidation, which is not a good outcome,” he said.
Following the sentencing, the authority’s NSW executive director of operations, Jason Gordon, said Mr Calleija had ignored directions.
“The actions of Budget Waste and Mr Calleija demonstrated a blatant disregard for environmental law,” Mr Gordon said.
“The prevention notice issued in May clearly instructed Budget Waste to stop accepting waste at their facility, but they continued to do so for another seven months and only stopped after we issued a supplementary prevention notice.
“Mr Calleija also refused to undertake a mandatory survey of the volume of waste and its layout on the premises, which was a specific direction of the prevention notice and essential for normal operations to resume.”
In addition to the fines, the court ordered Budget Waste and Mr Calleija to pay for a notice, outlining details of the offences and containing a link to the judgment, “within the first 12 pages” of the Sydney Morning Herald and Inside Waste.
Mr Gordon hailed the outcome as a win for keeping companies and individuals accountable when it came to the environment.
“This judgment is a win for environmental integrity and every responsible business and individual that complies with the law,” he said.
“It reinforces our message that those who dismiss environmental regulations will be held accountable.”
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