New footage aired on prime-time television showing what appears to be the mishandling of asbestos at a Bulla tip has prompted the EPA to further investigate the troubled site.
The footage, aired on Channel 9’s A Current Affair program on July 24, appears to show a tractor using its front loader to compact bags filled with asbestos sheeting.
It has sparked a fresh round of investigations by the EPA, which attended the BTQ Group-run tip twice in one week after the program was aired, to check that quarry operators were correctly disposing of asbestos.
Last month, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted the company an eight-year extension to its licence to operate the site as a private tip, overturning a Hume council decision that gave operators until the end of next year. It’s one of just 16 quarries in Victoria where the EPA allows commercial and domestic asbestos to be dumped.
EPA regional services executive director Damien Wells said the footage prompted checks for non-compliance issues, but none was found. He said the footage could not be used as evidence as it did not show whether the asbestos was later covered, which meets EPA rules.
He said the EPA would continue to keep a close eye on the tip.
Hume mayor Adem Atmaca said the footage raised concerns for people who work at the site, live nearby and commute past the site. Bulla resident Carmel Egan, a spokeswoman for residents fed up with the tip, said the residents would meet with council this week to discuss concerns.
