Company ordered to pay EPA Victoria $4.5M for Stawell tyre removal

The Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has begun proceedings in the Supreme Court to recover the costs associated with removing an estimated one million tyres from a stockpile in Stawell.

EPA CEO Cathy Wilkinson said the court has ordered the company responsible for the site to immediately pay EPA over $4.5 million and placed an injunction on the company to prevent it from selling the Stawell property where the tyres were stored.

“This is EPA’s first step in the process of recovering the costs that were incurred in removing the huge tyre stockpile that presented a great human health and environmental risk to Stawell and its surrounding communities,” Dr Wilkinson.

The case has now been adjourned to allow any future orders by the court to be made if required.

Dr Wilkinson said the process to remove the tyres began in August 2017, when EPA decided that the stockpile’s owner had made little to no effort to comply with a Country Fire Authority Fire Prevention Notice and three EPA notices. Removal of the stockpile was a whole of Government effort led by EPA.