Archerfield car wreckers clean-up site following fine
Issued: 7 Jul 2021
An Archerfield car wrecking business that was operating unlawfully has cleaned up an industrial site and moved to another location after being fined and issued with a direction notice.
Manager of the department’s Unlicensed Waste Team (UWT) David Cook said officers conducted a site inspection in February 2021 after receiving information from a member of the public.
“Officers in the UWT conducted an unannounced site inspection and discovered the business was operating a resource recovery and transfer facility without an environmental authority,” Mr Cook said.
“The business had received more than 200 waste vehicles and associated parts, including batteries, waste oil, fuel and tyres.
“A resource recovery and transfer facility business is an environmentally relevant activity and requires an environmental authority.
“Officers issued a Direction Notice to the operator to immediately cease receiving car bodies and parts, and to either clean the site up or obtain an environmental authority.
“The operator was also issued with a Penalty Infringement Notice (PIN) for $13,345.”
Mr Cook said the operator transported all car waste to another site that already held the required environmental authority.
“The UWT conducted a recent follow-up inspection and I’m pleased to say the operator complied with the Direction Notice and cleaned up the entire site,” he said.
“This is a great outcome for the community and ensures a level playing field for legitimate operators in the waste industry.
“It is critical to protect the public and landholders from activities that have the potential to cause environmental harm and land contamination from being undertaken outside of the appropriate regulatory safeguards.
“The department’s UWT will continue to act on public information to identify and investigate unlicensed waste operations.”
Community reports play a vital role in helping the department identify and investigate environmental risks from the storage and stockpiling of waste.
To report an issue in your local area, phone the Pollution Hotline on 1300 130 372 (option 2).