Clean-up of former C & D Recycling site almost complete
Authorities have provided an update on the mammoth clean-up of the former C & D Recycling site, including when they expect the task will finally be complete.
Geelong
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Almost 90 per cent of the waste onsite at the start of the Broderick Road Clean Up Project has now been removed, with the works set to be complete in months.
When the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) started the clean-up at the former C & D Recycling site in 2019, it estimated the mountain of waste was about 286,000 cubic metres in size, predicting the bill to dispose of it would come close to $100m.
The EPA has now removed more than 252,474m3 of waste from the Lara site, EPA Broderick Road Clean Up Project Manager Michael Fitzgerald said.
This is about 88 per cent of the total waste that was onsite at the start of the project.
Mr Fitzgerald said there was less than 33,749m3 of waste remaining onsite, and waste removal was on track to be complete in June, at the current rate of works.
C & D Recycling was declared insolvent in 2018 and run by conman David McAuliffe, who died in 2020.
Stockpiles of waste created a significant environmental risk, with authorities fearful a large fire could break out.
“Each week thousands of cubic metres of waste are removed from the Broderick Road site and transported to licensed landfills, reducing the hazard onsite and bringing us a step closer to finishing this significant project,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“The project team is conducting testing and surveying of the site to ensure that once the final stockpile is removed the site will no longer pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.
“This testing will include ground penetrating radar scans to check below the surface of the former stockpiles.
“When waste removal is complete the site will also be assessed by an independent occupational hygienist.”
Mr Fitzgerald said the final cost of the clean-up would be determined once the project was complete.
He said EPA would continue to use its powers to work to recover the clean-up costs by pursuing the site’s former occupiers and any other relevant parties.
City of Greater Geelong Windermere ward councillor Kylie Grzybek said the Lara community would welcome this news that the clean-up was now so close to being finished.
“It has been a long journey, but both the EPA and the City have done an excellent job working through a very complex operation while keeping the community’s safety front of mind,” she said.
“We now look forward with anticipation to seeing the final truckload of waste being removed from the site in the not-too-distant future.”
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Originally published as Clean-up of former C & D Recycling site almost complete
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