EPA lays 12 charges after finding chemicals in Epping warehouses
A disturbing discovery in three Epping industrial buildings has sparked Victoria’s environment watchdog into legal action, with officers saying the dangerous find posed a “serious threat” to public health.
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A man will face court after he was charged by the state’s environment watchdog for illegally storing dangerous chemicals at three Epping warehouses.
The EPA pressed charges after officers believed the chemicals posed a “serious threat” to public health and could cause “substantial” risk of damage to the environment.
The man in his late 50s will front Melbourne Magistrates Court on the 12 charges — which relate to activity between May and December in 2018 — for a file hearing on April 6.
Whittlesea Council partnered with the EPA in a pilot program Protection of the Local Environment last year, where industrial buildings were regularly inspected across the municipality.
It followed reports of dodgy tenants using empty warehouses in Thomastown and Epping as dumping grounds for toxic industrial waste.
Culprits allegedly rented out the warehouses, stockpiled hazardous waste and abandoned the sites, leaving the landowner with an expensive and dangerous clean-up.
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Last year drums of toxic chemicals were seized at four warehouses in Devon Court and Yale Drive in Epping — with the responsible operators linked with the devastating industrial fire in Tottenham two years ago — while the EPA and the council were also forced to clean up a large warehouse in Thomastown after illegal construction and demolition waste was found onsite.