Whittlesea toxic dumping clean-up costs council thousands

AUTHORITIES are investigating the largest illegal dumping of chemicals in Whittlesea, which sparked a major operation by emergency services and council staff costing up to $100,000.

Council staff who found 17 large drums oozing potentially dangerous liquid on the roadside in the farmland area of  Masons Road, behind the Wollert tip, feared it was dangerous.

One drum was labelled to contain the highly volatile chemical trichloroethylene, putting authorities on high alert. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade sent its HAZMAT and breathing apparatus unit designed to deal with hazardous materials, council’s local laws officer Scott Allen said.

It cost $50,000 to have experts from the MFB, Country Fire Authority, police, ambulance, the Environment Protection Authority and council attend the incident on Friday, June 21 and $40,000 to $50,000 to decontaminate  the site and remove the waste to a specialist waste facility, he said.

Firefighters from the MFB and the CFA wore fully enclosed suits to prevent exposure to the chemical and were hosed down after inspecting the 44-gallon drums while council officers who discovered it were quarantined, he said.

“This is the biggest case of illegal dumping I have seen in 12 years in the industry; somebody must have seen it, there is physical evidence a small to medium tip truck was used to dump it,” he said.

Investigators found the drums held paint and solvents that were non-toxic to humans, although they were toxic to the environment.

Under the EPA Act, the dumpers faced fines up to $700,000, Mr Allen said.

 Anyone with information should call the council on 9217 2100.