The French multi-national waste giant planning to build a controversial $600 million incinerator at Tarago, north of Canberra, to burn Sydney's rubbish has been given another formal warning and fined after allegedly failing to comply with the conditions of its environment protection licence.
Veolia Environmental Services was fined $30,000 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority after allegedly failing to comply with the conditions of the licence covering its "mechanical biological treatment" facility at the Woodlawn "Eco-Precinct" in Tarago.
During a routine inspection of the facility in April this year, EPA officers found that a drain had backed up and flooded the compost pads leading to a leachate holding dam.
The EPA said the incident had the potential to cause odour issues and could have been avoided if more effective measures were in place. The watchdog said that temporary rubber storage bladders should have been used by Veolia to store the excess leachate and create capacity in the dam.
Leachate management at the facility is the part of the company's pollution reduction program on its licence.
"We expect all EPA-licenced waste facilities to comply with the conditions of their licence, which includes maintaining and operating plants and their equipment in a proper and efficient manner," the EPA's Executive Director of Operations, Jason Gordon said.
"This was a clear failure to do so."
The latest warning and fine comes at a difficult time for the company which is battling enormous local opposition to its proposed "Waste to Energy" plant against a backdrop of continual breaches recorded by its current dumping operation.
Woodlawn is a former open cut mine just outside Tarago where 850,000 tonnes of Sydney's putrescible waste per year is packed into containers, sent by rail to a transfer facility at Crisps Creek, trucked and then dumped, with the rotting of the garbage harvested for its methane.
In August 2023, the EPA issued two penalty notices and a $30,000 fine to the company for its leaking containers which local residents say leave liquid trails of "vile waste" behind the trucks as they roll out of the transfer facility and up the road.
Woodlawn is meant to be a non-discharge site.
As an industrial neighbour, Veolia's record has been a poor one and the company has lost all confidence from the local residents that the proposed high-intensity incinerator planned for the same location will perform as cleanly and efficiently as the company claims.
In a statement about the latest breach, Veolia said it acknowledged "there is room for improvement, and we have been actively implementing measures to ensure compliance".
"We are, as always, working diligently to rectify identified issues," it said.
"The situation on site has been significantly impacted by extreme rainfall over the past four years as a non-discharge site, and as a result, we are continuously putting in place measures to ensure compliance during extreme weather conditions going forward."
Back in 2022, The Communities Against the Tarago Incinerator submitted a freedom of information request, seeking documents from the NSW Environmental Authority relating to any cautions, warning letters or penalties levied against the multi-national Veolia.
Ten records were discovered and full disclosure granted, however, details contained within these documents were blocked by an undisclosed third party.
So far this year Veolia has received 64 complaints on its register, mostly related to odours and chemical smells emanating from Woodlawn.
