Charges laid over ‘rotting carcass’ smell after three-year battle
The operators of a burning landfill site that has plagued residents in Melbourne’s west with the smell of “rotting carcasses” for three years could face almost $3 million in fines.
Four fires started deep underground at the Kealba landfill site in November 2019. One continues to burn beneath a 30-metre pile of construction waste – a mix of dumped concrete, carpet, timber and shredded tyres.
A fire at the Barro Landfill in Kealba, Melbourne, has been raging since 2019.Credit:Darrian Traynor
Barro Group, which owns the landfill, has been charged by the Environment Protection Authority for breaching the General Environmental Duty, which came into effect in July last year, and requires that all reasonable steps be taken to reduce the risk of harm to human health and the environment from waste or pollution.
If found guilty, the company will face a maximum penalty of $1.8 million, and three directors could be fined $360,000 each. An initial hearing is set for November 21 at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Families who live nearby and have been pleading for action are cautiously optimistic after spending years battling headaches and respiratory symptoms, and being unable to go for walks or open windows because of the unpleasant odour from the landfill site.
Locals have likened the smell to manure, off chemicals and a rotting carcass.
Nicole Power, a member of the Action Against Barro Landfill residents’ group, said: “It’s taken up so much of my time, and my anxiety levels have been through the roof, so thank gosh that something’s happening.
“I am so excited but at the same time this is just the start, and it will be fought very vigorously, no doubt.”
Power, a Kealba resident of 17 years who lives about 300 metres from the waste site, is hopeful the last fire will be extinguished by Christmas.
“My home isn’t my sanctuary, it’s my smelly prison,” she said. “I work, sleep and eat in it. I have to apologise to my visitors. At least the polluter gets to home away from this.”
Fellow resident Anna Jez also welcomed the charges.
Anna and Mike Jez inspect dust from the Kealba landfill settling around their home in May 2021.Credit:Joe Armao
“We have had to endure both physical and mental effects of these fires for three years,” she said. “The outcome today is a direct result of the power of a community that stood up and said that clean air is a right, not a privilege.”
In 2006, Barro Group was reportedly turning over $50 million a year and its chairman was worth $450 million.
The company is also facing losing its licence to operate the landfill, with the EPA issuing the company with a show-cause notice to explain why it should not be revoked. The business has until November 14 to respond.
EPA chief executive Lee Miezis said: “EPA is using the stronger powers it was given in the Environment Protection Act … to hold landfill operators and all business to account when they break the law and impact the community and the environment.”
Barro Group spokesman Steve Murphy said the company was considering the matter and taking legal advice.
“That notwithstanding, the company will continue its efforts to remediate the final hotspot,” Murphy said.
The operator’s remediation works involve digging up hundreds of cubic metres of hot rubbish each day to try to reach the fire burning at the bottom. The waste, at a temperature of up to 180 degrees when extracted, must then be laid out to cool before it can be safely disposed of.
In recent weeks, residents have had some reprieve from the strong odour as the remediation works slowed due to rain, but the work is expected to soon pick up again.
Barro Group’s licence to operate the Kealba landfill was suspended in September 2021 and the company has missed three deadlines set by the EPA to extinguish the fires. A request for an extension was denied, a decision the company is challenging in the Supreme Court.
The EPA is dealing with other communities in Melbourne frustrated by foul-smelling waste sites near their homes.
The authority is attempting to suspend the licence of Cranbourne West’s SBI Inert Landfill and modifications have been required to a Visy recycling plant in Reservoir.
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