More than 70 per cent of waste left at an illegal dumpsite at Broderick Road in Lara has now been removed, according to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
EPA Victoria Broderick Road clean-up project manager Michael Fitzgerald said more than 206,910 cubic metres of waste had been removed from the site since the clean-up project started in April, 2019.
Mr Fitzgerald said EPA was eliminating a hazard and reducing the risk of a fire at the site.
“EPA’s role at Broderick Road is to clean up the site and make it safe, minimising the risk to human health and the environment,” he said.
“Stage three of the clean-up project, the removal of the last four big stockpiles onsite, is running on time and progressing well.
“We’re almost halfway through removing the final stockpile. Removal works are on track to finish, as expected, in mid-2022.”
Mr Fitzgerald said about 79,313 cubic metres of mixed construction and demolition waste remained in the final stockpile.
“All waste removed from the site is subject to a strict sampling and categorisation process, to ensure it’s handled correctly and disposed of at appropriately-licensed landfills,” he said.
“The remaining stockpile is broken down into smaller zones. Waste from each zone is analysed in an offsite lab and categorised for disposal.
“The categorisation is then checked by an independent environmental consultant and checked again by EPA. The receiving landfill also undertakes its own reviews of the categorisations. Waste is only removed from the site once all these checks are complete and the categorisation is confirmed.”
Mr Fitzgerald said there were a number of controls in place to mitigate site impacts.
“The controls include high volume water and fog cannons to wet the pile down, air quality monitoring in works exclusion zones and along all fence boundaries, and drone surveillance with thermal imaging to ensure temperatures inside the stockpile remain at safe levels.”
There was about 286,200 cubic metres of waste onsite at the start of the project, with 26,600 cubic metres of timber removed in stage one, 7600 cubic metres of contaminated soil removed in stage two and 172,710 cubic metres removed as part of stage three works.
The dumpsite was formerly run by C&D Recycling, which had let waste stockpiles reach unsafe levels before it went into liquidation in 2019.
The EPA then stepped in and began the clean-up project.
