Brewarrina Shire Council was issued a penalty notice for failing to deal with materials at the Brewarrina landfill in a proper and efficient manner, which resulted in air pollution. 

Cobar Shire Council was also issued with a penalty notice and official caution after a fire at a local landfill site caused air pollution that affected neighbours.

EPA Director North Gary Davey said both incidents had been in breach of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.

“On June 2, the EPA received advice from [Cobar] Council that a fire had occurred at the landfill on May 29 and had been subsequently extinguished by the Rural Fire Service and that actions had been undertaken to suppress any ongoing smouldering as a result of the fire,” he said.

“Over the following two weeks the EPA received two complaints from neighbours of the landfill about extensive smoke from the premises.

“EPA officers inspected the site on June 17 and observed smoke from the premises impacting on neighbouring properties.

“The EPA also observed that there was inadequate soil and capping in place to suppress fires. Also of concern was the fact that combustible materials such as wooden pallets and cardboard in the landfill were not sufficiently isolated from the smouldering waste, there was no signage in regarding to preventing fires and there was unrestricted access to the site.

“In this instance council had not taken adequate measures to supress the fire at the landfill and limit the impact of the smoke on its neighbours,” he said.

As a result of the findings of its investigations, the EPA issued a $1500 penalty notice to Cobar Shire Council on October 10. 

The EPA also issued an official caution to the council for not immediately notifying the EPA of the incident.

In the other incident, Mr Davey said the EPA met with Brewarrina Council in October last year in relation to ongoing fires at its landfill and about a need to improve the management of and maintenance at the premises.

“In May 2014 the EPA conducted an unannounced inspection to examine any measures taken by council to improve environmental management at the site,” he said.

“During the inspection EPA officers observed a significant amount of windblown rubbish around the site and outside the premises. 

Officers also observed cross-contamination of waste between designated zones for green and general waste and recyclables.

“There was also a small fire burning without any measures to suppress it and evidence of previous fires onsite which had not been covered with soil or capping material.”

The EPA issued a $1500 penalty notice to the council on October 10, 2014. 

“Brewarrina Council has a responsibility to ensure that the landfill is appropriately managed to protect the environment and community,” Mr Davey said.

“The EPA will continue to monitor the landfill and will not hesitate to take further action if the environmental management at the site is not improved.”

Brewarrina Shire general manager Dan Simmons said it was regretful council had been issued with the penalty notice despite its best efforts to adhere to EPA guidelines.

“Remote communities such as ours struggle to police these kinds of things due to lack of resources,” he said.

“Our only recourse would be to lock the tip and have it open to the public only when manned by staff, however that would most certainly result in illegal dumping and other environmental hazards.”

“In response to the penalty notice, I have written a letter to the EPA, asking that they return to Brewarrina to discuss strategies that will ensure compliance in the future.”

In future, Mr Davey said, similar offences would attract fines of up to $8,000 under the EPA’s new penalties, which were the toughest in Australia. The new fines applied to offences that occurred after August 29, 2014.

Penalty notices were one of several tools the EPA was able to use to achieve environmental compliance. 

Others include formal warnings, licence conditions, notices and directions, mandatory audits, enforceable undertakings, legally-binding pollution reduction programs and prosecutions, Mr Davey said.