EPA completes clean up at Broderick Rd, Lara dump site

It’s taken three years but a painstaking clean up of 280,000 cubic metres of dangerous rubble at Lara is complete. SEE THE DIFFERENCE.

THE Environment Protection Authority has finished removing more than 286,000 cubic metres of toxic waste from an illegal Lara tip.

The notorious Broderick Rd dump site, once deemed a “catastrophic” fire risk by authorities, was piled high with 286,200 cubic metres of rubbish when it was abandoned by operator C & D Recycling in December 2017.

Taxpayers funded a massive clean-up bill for what became one of the most significant and longest clean up projects in Victoria’s history.

As of May 31, the bill stood at around $72m. The project was initially expected to cost about $100m.

EPA chief executive officer Lee Miezis said the last truckload of waste had now left the Broderick Rd site marking the end of a three-year project that eliminated a significant fire risk for the Lara and Geelong communities and the state.

“On April 30, 2019, EPA exercised its powers under Section 62 of the Environment and Protection Act (1970) to clean up thesite on the basis that the stockpiles of waste posed an unacceptable risk to human health, safety and the environment in theevent of a fire,” Mr Miezis said.

C and D Recycling at Lara in 2018. Picture: Alan Barber

“The amount of waste onsite, about 286,200 cubic metres, presented a challenge to remove safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively. In places, the pile was 20 metres high.”

Mr Miezis said the project had been completed “on time,on budget and without any significant incidents”.

He said the project required assistance from City of Greater Geelong, Fire Rescue Victoria, Victoria Police, Worksafe, Departmentof Health and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

Broderick Road site cleared. Picture: Alan Barber

EPA Broderick Road clean up project manager Michael Fitzgerald said the EPA, along with an independent waste expert, had testedand surveyed the site to ensure it no longer posed an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.

He said site inspections included soil and water testing and ground penetrating radar scans to check below the surface ofthe former stockpiles.

“Our removal of the 286,200 cubic metres of waste onsite included the recycling of about 22,000 cubic metres of timber, 2000 cubic metres of concrete and 70 large tyres,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“The presence of asbestos in the rest of the waste limited our opportunities to recycle, but what could not be recycled wassent to appropriately licensed landfills.”

Mr Fitzgerald said the final cost of the project would be determined once all contractors had demobilised from the site and the project was officially closed out.

City of Greater Geelong Cr Anthony Aitken thanked all agencies for their work on the waste removal.

“Both the EPA and Council have kept the community and environment safe by leading an inter-agency team to minimise risk to the community and clear the site of waste,” Cr Aitken said.”

“To finish this project on time, within budget and without any public safety concerns is a fantastic result.

“Thanks to all the agencies and partners involved in delivering this massive clean-up effort.

David McAuliffe leaves the Geelong Police Station with his lawyer Marion Isobel in 2019. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

The company, C & D Recycling was operated by David McAuliffe who was given a three-month jail term for repeatedly ignoringsafety measures imposed on him by the courts in February 2019.

But that sentence was downgraded on appeal in June, much to the frustration of the City of Greater Geelong.

Mr McAuliffe, who had previously been treated for cancer, died in February 2020, leading a magistrate to strike out the remainingcharges against him.

Originally published as EPA completes clean up at Broderick Rd, Lara dump site