Three companies fined $15k for environmental breaches
A RECYCLING company, a cucumber farmer and a construction firm upgrading the Pacific Highway and Wyong Rd intersection have each been fined $15,000.
Central Coast
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A RECYCLING company, a cucumber farmer and a construction firm upgrading the Pacific Highway and Wyong Rd intersection have each been fined $15,000.
It comes as the state’s environmental watchdog clamps down on illegal dumping across the Central Coast.
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) issued a penalty notice to Alcon Disposals, which operates as North Wyong Recycling, for unlawfully transporting waste from its Wyong-based facility to a property near Cessnock.
EPA officers inspected the Hunter Valley property in November 2016 and found 19 stockpiles of shredded timber up to 2m tall containing contaminants such as engineered wood products, preservative treated or coated wood residues and traces of metal and plastics.
EPA Waste Compliance manager Steven James said while the mulch posed a low risk to human health, the community expected mulch to be free of contaminants.
Alcon Disposals was fined $15,000 and has since removed the timber waste.
A cucumber farmer was also fined $15,000 for burning wood waste in a biomass boiler without a licence or appropriate approvals.
EPA officers visited the Peats Ridge facility in May and discovered Family Fresh Farms had been accepting timber waste deliveries from sawmills around Bulahdelah for use as fuel in their on-site boiler.
The operator ignored previous warnings from the EPA not to operate the boiler without first getting an Environment Protection Licence.
It was alleged the operator ignored the warnings and accepted more than 200 tonnes of woodchips which were subsequently burned to heat a greenhouse to grow cucumbers.
After being fined the farmer applied and was granted a licence to use the biomass boiler.
Meanwhile Seymour Whyte Constructions (SWC) was slapped with a $15,000 fine for unlawfully storing stockpiles of waste from the Wyong Rd, Pacific Highway upgrade at a Tuggerah property.
Under environment protection laws a company must hold a licence to store more than 1000 tonnes or 1000 cubic meters of waste at any time.
SWC did not hold an environmental protection licence or development consent from Central Coast Council to store waste at the premises. In addition the EPA found there were no sediment or erosion controls in place, meaning loose waste material could easily move into the local environment via stormwater drains or as dust.