Almost 90 per cent of waste left at an illegal dumpsite in Lara has now been removed.
The Broderick Road site’s operator C&D Recycling had let waste stockpiles reach unsafe levels before going into liquidation in 2019, forcing the EPA into clean up.
EPA Victoria Broderick Road clean-up project manager Michael Fitzgerald said the EPA had now removed more than 252,474 cubic metres of waste from the site.
He said that was around 88 per cent of the 286,200 cubic metres of waste left on site in 2019, with less than 33,749 cubic metres remaining.
Mr Fitzgerald said waste removal was on track to be complete in June this year at the current rate.
“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,” he 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 councillor and Lara resident Kylie Grzybek said it was pleasing to see the clean up getting close to complete.
“The Lara community will welcome this news that the clean-up is 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.”
