Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has uncovered new storage sites for soft plastics in Melbourne as its investigations under the REDcycle program continues.
Chief Executive of EPA, Lee Miezis said the four newly discovered warehouses were located in Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs, bringing the total to 14 confirmed storage sites in Victoria.
“Our officers are determined to keep the community and environment safe,” Mr Miezis said.
“We are following up all new leads to find these sites,” he said.
“If not stored safely, soft plastics can pose a fire risk.”
Mr Miezis said businesses needed to manage the risk using controls such as built-in fire suppression systems, storage size limits and minimum separation distances between stockpiles.
He said earlier investigations located warehouses in West Footscray, Truganina, Williamstown North, Campbellfield, Tullamarine, Dandenong South, West Wodonga, Craigieburn and two in Tottenham.
“EPA officers have already issued an improvement notice on the new Truganina site, demanding better emergency access and a reduction in the stockpile,” the Chief Executive said.
“The Laverton site was inspected yesterday with Fire Rescue Victoria to determine the actions required for safe storage of the soft plastics and regulatory notices are pending,” he said.
“This site has been rated as high risk due to concerns about the mix of materials held at the site, which includes tyres.”
Mr Miezis said the Tullamarine and Craigieburn sites were considered low risk.
He said seven warehouses had now had regulatory notices issued to them requiring action to reduce fire risk.
“A Tottenham warehouse has the largest amount of materials, with 1,000 tonnes of soft plastics on site, has now complied with several EPA requirements reducing its risk rating from high to medium,” he said.
“EPA officers continue to monitor all sites to ensure compliance with environmental requirements and continue to issue information gathering notices to further the investigation,” Mr Miezis said.
