Brimbank Council urges EPA action on noise, odour complaints

It’s time the state’s environmental authority did its job and addressed noise and odour issues at trouble plagued industrial sites in the city’s west, a Melbourne council says.

Staff at the Kealba landfill, which was once a beautiful green quarry, have been battling to put out four underground fires at the site for over a year. Picture: supplied

A Melbourne council says its high time the state’s peak environmental authority “do its job” and investigate noise and fumes at industrial sites in the city’s west.

Brimbank Council voted unanimously last week to push for an urgent investigation into Environment Protection Authority licensed sites that are making residents’ lives hell.

Households surrounding Kealba’s burning tip, which has been ablaze for more than a year, have been forced to live with the stench of burning rubbish, which residents have likened to the smell of burning “dead bodies”.

Earlier this month Brimbank homeowner Ami Luu said chemical fumes from paint manufacturer AkzoNobel’s Sunshine North site made her gag whenever she stepped outside her home, and noise from the factory kept her awake at night.

Both companies have conducted past investigations that showed air quality at the sites met licence obligations set out by the EPA.

But residents told the Leader they doubted regulations were being met and past complaints to the EPA had fallen on deaf ears.

Councillor Virginia Tachos told her colleagues at the council’s general meeting this month she did not understand how the EPA could allow the industrial sites to operate despite having “such an ongoing detrimental impact” on residents.

AkzoNobel is the world’s leading paint producer and makes popular brands such as Dulux. Picture: Chris Ratcliffe

She slammed the organisation for dragging its feet to address people’s concerns, and said the community’s faith in it would only be restored when it started “doing its job” by “protecting the environment”.

“How is it that after repeated calls to action, the only response seems to be inaction. It’s time the EPA took a robust look at all their sites in our city,” Cr Tachos told the council.

“It’s time the EPA take responsibility for its legislated role and that is to protect our community.”

Councillor Jasmine Nguyen said she had been inundated with complaints from residents about the tip and paint manufacturer sites, as well as smells coming from abattoirs in Brooklyn.

She said the council didn’t have authority to manage the sites, but could advocate on residents’ behalf.

“The licence and the regulations, it sits with the EPA, not with the council,” Cr Nguyen said.

“But regardless, the community is looking to us as representatives, as councillors, to advocate on their behalf, to call for real action and to hold them accountable.”

Councillors voted unanimously to request the EPA undertake an urgent investigation and audit of its licensed sites in Brimbank to ensure compliance with noise and odour regulations.

It will also push the EPA to host community consultation forums.

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