Accident at Jalco’s manufacturing plant ends in $200k penalty
A detergent manufacturer has been slapped with a six-figure fine after a tank burst, spilling chemicals and wastewater into a river. It happened despite warnings the tank had “potential deficiencies”.
Fairfield
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A detergents manufacturer has copped a six-figure fine after spilling about a 100,000 litres of chemicals and rain water into a western Sydney waterway, ignoring warnings from its builder and potentially endangering native wildlife.
Smithfield manufacturer Jalco had been using a 180,000-litre tank on its site to store wastewater when a defect caused it to burst on March 18, 2019, causing contaminated water to spill into the nearby Prospect Creek.
The Woodpark Rd business has since agreed to the terms of an enforceable undertaking with the NSW Environmental Protection Authority, agreeing to fund a $200,000 program and pay $42,000 to cover the cost of their investigations.
“This outcome … provides important resources for Cumberland Council to continue their role in regulating industry, while relieving ratepayers of the cost of industry compliance,” Giselle Howard said, a director at the EPA.
She said it will also go towards upgrades being made on Jalco’s site.
When Jalco purchased and installed the Chemstore tank in September 2017, it did so without seeking development approval or making the upgrades needed to catch leaks and spills.
The tank was never used to sanitise water as was originally intended. Instead, Jalco used it about a dozen times over the course of a year to store overflow wastewater, including chemicals from manufacturing laundry liquid, washing detergent and fabric softener, as well as rainwater and rainwater run-off.
Jalco had been warned the 180,000-litre tank had “potential deficiencies … and that modifications were required,” according to the court-enforceable undertaking, when Chemstore emailed two employees in July 2018.
Chemstore followed up twice again in early 2019 — including in the month the tank collapsed — but the two employees had left Jalco by then.
Jalco estimates the tank had between 90,000 to 180,000-litres of wastewater when it collapsed. Some of this entered the stormwater system in the Prospect Creek catchment area, which flows through Georges River and into Botany Bay.
The area provides habitat for freshwater turtles and frogs, and is a thoroughfare for native fish.
“The EPA does not allege that the incident caused (the animals) direct harm,” a spokeswoman said.
The $200,000 paid by Jalco — to be made in two instalments — will fund a program to make sure businesses and manufacturers are complying with environmental legislation. It will be managed by Cumberland Council.