Troubled Melbourne recycling giant SKM to close as boss blames government witch hunt
The man at the centre of Victoria’s waste crisis will shut plants this week, costing 600 jobs and crippling recycling for 30 councils, blaming a government witch hunt — but a minister is making no apologies.
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The patriarch of the troubled recycling giant at the centre of Victoria’s waste crisis has declared he’s run out of money and will shut this week.
But a senior minister she she’ll make no apologies as the state government tries to find a way through the impasse.
Giuseppe “Joe” Italiano — who founded SKM Recycling — told the Sunday Herald Sun he was the victim of a government witch hunt.
“I’ve put millions of dollars into recycling, which no one else has,” said 76-year-old Mr Italiano.
“I’ve run out of money to pay for bad management by Daniel Andrews and the rest of them.
“We are closing up next week, I am closing the doors and destroying the machinery. Someone is out there playing games to have me closed down.
“When you have the EPA shutting us down every second week for no reason … the transport companies don’t want to work for us.”
Speaking at the gates of his Deepdene home on Saturday, Mr Italiano — SKM’s director — said he was concerned his workers would lose their jobs and entitlements.
“I don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” he said.
“There is millions of dollars I have put in to make this work. My business is recycling, not upsetting people, not going out to destroy people’s lives. They are normal people, they’re not educated a lot of them, those people rely on it.”
Up to 600 jobs could be affected.
Mr Italiano — an industry veteran of three decades — said despite media coverage of the waste crisis and a series of fires at his sites, he’d never been asked for his view.
He said his money “went up in smoke” following the 2017 Coolaroo fire and insisted there were no victims.
His son Robert Leo Italiano, SKM’s manager, has been charged over pollution from the enormous blaze.
“There was nobody impacted,” Mr Italiano senior said.
“When the fire came, we were paying a lot of money for it. There were mistakes made, but there was no taskforce needed, it was wrong.”
“It is not a big business, it is a family business. It has grown into a big business because councils talk a lot about getting all these recyclables and no one wants to do it.
“So stupidly I take them on. There’s no money in it.”
SKM provides recycling services for more than 30 councils including Darebin, Port Phillip and Geelong, but has struggled since China introduced a ban on receiving shipments of recyclable waste from Australia.
SKM has warned that up to 400,000 tonnes of waste a year could be sent to landfill if it folds.
It is also facing a potentially costly class action lawsuit over the Coolaroo fire. More than 200 affected residents and businesses have joined the lawsuit, which the Victorian Supreme Court could approve as early as August 1.
Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan hit back defending the action taken against the company.
“This is a private business, who will obviously make their own private choices about what they will do with the future of that business. However, the government makes no apologies, having through the Environment Protection Authority, taken the action it has needed to take. Of course, the advice was it has been engaging in unsafe practices and clearly that was not acceptable.”
Ms Allan said the government was “working on alternatives” in the event of a shutdown, but would not discuss the matter further.
Regardless of the outcome she urged people to continue using their recycling bins, despite the threat that material may inevitably end up in landfill.
Kathryn Emeny of Maddens Lawyers said residents who claimed they were exposed to toxic fumes, and businesses forced to close during the fire, were among the plaintiffs.
It can also be revealed that within the past year the Metropolitan Fire Brigade has attended SKM’s Coolaroo site 15 times and its Laverton plant seven times. Three call-outs were fires and others false alarms or due to sprinkler system problems.
The Sunday Herald Sun last week reported that SKM was on the brink of collapse with six companies pursuing it for debts totalling $4.3 million. The state government has put the recycling giant on a tight leash, with the EPA inspecting key sites every two days.
Its noncompliance has been branded unacceptable within the government, and the reason why new industry players are needed.
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Aaron Wood, Melbourne’s Deputy Lord Mayor, said councils wanted an alternative to landfill. He urged households to recycle more.
“We must invest in a stable, sustainable and innovative domestic recycling industry that isn’t beholden to international export markets, or decisions by other countries that no longer wish to be a dumping ground for our waste,’’ he said.