By Adam Carey
Victoria’s environmental watchdog has accused a global waste giant of allowing methane gas emissions from a Hampton Park landfill to reach potentially unhealthy levels for nearby residents on 22 occasions.
The Veolia site on Hallam Road has been at the centre of repeated community complaints about smell, with several hundred homes sitting within a 500-metre buffer zone of the tip.
Veolia’s Hallam Road landfill is situated close to homes. The company is alleged to have failed to safely manage methane gas emissions. Credit: Eddie Jim
The Environment Protection Authority has this week taken Veolia to the Supreme Court alleging it breached conditions of its licence to operate by failing to safely manage the site and curb methane gas emissions, despite knowing they were a problem.
It is alleged Veolia also failed to cover its rubbish cells properly or to adequately control leachate (contaminated liquid), letting it flood the landfill’s gas extraction wells, which exacerbated odour problems.
The EPA’s civil action is significant because it is one of the first times the authority has used powers it gained in 2021 to pursue a person or business for breaching their “general environmental duty” to minimise risks to the environment and human health.
The watchdog received more than 1500 reports from the community about odour emanating from the site between January 2022 and December 2023, a statement of claim says.
Lynbrook resident Ray Dalli, pictured at home, has often smelled methane gas emissions from the nearby landfill. Credit: Eddie Jim
Many of the homes that stand within the landfill’s 500-metre buffer zone were built in the 1990s, on land owned by state government agency VicUrban, in the belief the landfill would eventually be rehabilitated into a large public park.
But the plan was scrapped in 2022, after the state Labor government declared the landfill an ongoing waste site of state significance. Veolia has since applied to operate a new waste transfer station there, once the landfill closes. The application will require the EPA’s approval.
The statement of claim alleges that between July 2022 and September 2023 landfill gas breached allowable levels when measured on 22 separate occasions.
On each of those occasions Veolia failed to take all measures to avoid exceeding set levels of methane gas emissions, and failed to put a risk management and monitoring program in place, the EPA alleges.
Veolia is alleged by Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority to have breached its licence conditions at the Hallam Road landfill.Credit: Eddie Jim
“Veolia knew, or ought to have reasonably known, that there was a risk of harm to human health or the environment from odour pollution from the Landfill at the Hallam Road Landfill if leachate levels and landfill gas was not managed appropriately,” the writ states.
Methane gas is harmless at low concentrations, but displaces oxygen at high levels, potentially causing headaches, nausea, palpitations and dizziness.
Longtime Lynbrook resident Ray Dalli, who lives within the 500-metre buffer area, said gas emissions from the landfill had been so potent on occasions that he could smell it inside his house, and feared for his and his wife’s safety.
He described the smell of methane gas as like rotten eggs.
“It’s a unique smell,” Dalli said. “There were times when it was that strong I used to actually panic. I thought we weren’t going to wake up in the morning, we were going to be pretty much asphyxiated because it would just remove all of the oxygen out of the air.”
Dalli said the odour had been less noticeable of late because he lived on the western side of the landfill, and Veolia’s active waste cells were in the eastern section.
Bianca Sigismundi, the EPA’s southern metropolitan Melbourne regional manager, said the EPA had been acting for the landfill’s neighbouring community for several years, requiring Veolia to better manage the source of odours.
“Despite that, we believe Veolia has failed to comply so far as reasonably practicable, and odour remains an ongoing issue,” Sigismundi said. “EPA will always use all its regulatory powers to address non-compliance that can impact human health and the environment.”
The EPA is pursuing penalties, with the sum to be set by the court. The company would also have to put up prominent signage at the Hallam Road landfill detailing its breaches, and publish a notice in a major Melbourne newspaper.
Veolia would also be required to set up a compliance program, including education for its staff, and hire an independent expert to revise its practices.
A Veolia spokesperson said the company was reviewing the EPA’s statement of claim and would respond via the proceedings in due course.
“The development licence application for a waste transfer station at the Hallam Road site, to replace the landfill and allow upgrading of technology and delivery of the circular economy for waste as a useful resource, is still undergoing the relevant approvals processes,” the spokesperson said.
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