Michaela Meade
A Laverton North company has been fined by Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) after officers traced an odour in a residential area back to the company’s rendering plant.
CSF Proteins Pty Ltd has been fined more than $8000 after members of the public in Sunshine West and Brooklyn reported the odour.
EPA western metropolitan regional manager Steve Lansdell said the public reports made “all the difference” to the investigation.
“Thank you to our community in the west,” Mr Lansdell said.
“People described the smell and gave us their locations, which helped EPA officers to trace the odour upwind to its source before the wind could confuse the trail or remove the evidence altogether.
“Our team traced it back to the Laverton North rendering plant run by CSF Proteins Pty Ltd and found there were problems with the plant’s biofilter and odour containment.”
According to EPA, the plant’s licence outlines site-specific conditions to protect the community and environment, including the requirement that odour must not leave the premises and affect the public.
The company has been issued an $8261 fine and served a legally enforceable Pollution Abatement Notice which requires the biofilter be fixed as quickly as possible.
“Our community in the west are fed up with odours in their neighbourhood and homes, and it is very disappointing to see an operator like CSF Proteins Pty Ltd contribute to this by failing to fulfill its EPA licence requirements,” Mr Lansdell said.
“Every business has a responsibility to take preventative measures to ensure incidents like this do not occur, and EPA will show zero tolerance when companies fail in that responsibility to protect the community.”
Members of the public can report pollution by calling EPA’s 24 hour hotline on 1300 EPA VIC (1300 372 842).
