A Landfill operator has been fined $30,000 for breaches at a Central Victorian landfill, including exposed litter and uncovered waste.
Environmental Protection Agency officers laid the charges against Veolia Environmental Services after a drone took aerial photographs in January last year at its landfill at Patho, between Echuca and Cohuna in Northern Victoria.
Officers also attended the site in September and November 2022 and provided compliance advice to avoid prosecution. But when they returned in January, the problems were still there.
The Echuca Magistrates’ Court heard that flooding and a shortage of staff had hampered operations at the landfill.
The local Magistrate fined the company, without conviction, but warned any potential offenders that if the company had not pleaded guilty they would have been convicted and given a much bigger $100,000 fine.
The court also required the company to pay the EPA $4,448 in costs.
EPA says every landfill site in Victoria is subject to inspections, and licence requirements are there to protect the environment and community from pollution, including liquids leaching into the land, and litter or odour escaping above the surface.
An EPA inspection in April 2023, found the exposed waste problems identified during the earlier inspections had been rectified.
