Brooklyn Industrial Precinct

 

Reporting pollution To make a pollution or incident report phone: Melbourne metropolitan area – 1300 EPA VIC Check current wind speed and direction at the Footscray air monitoring station  or  Altona North air monitoring station

About the Brooklyn Industrial Precinct Project

Since the establishment of Melbourne, the western suburbs have housed industry alongside residents. While industry practice may have improved since the 1870’s, the environmental health and livability for people surrounding the Brooklyn Industrial Precinct still remains a concern for residents.

The EPA, local government and the industries and residents of the Brooklyn area are working together to:

• Identify opportunities for improving the environmental performance of industries;
• Provide better information and education to industry and residents; and
• Actively address issues of non compliance practice.

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Recent News

Three new notices have been issued to: Tasman Logistics Pty Ltd; Victorian Container Management; and Rafnet Pty Ltd to manage mud issues at their sites. The largest of the three notices requires Tasman Logistics to seal all roads and car parks onsite and install wheel wash and wheel grates to minimise dust and mud by the end of the year.

Since early 2010 EPA has issued a total of 27 notices relating to dust mitigation in the Brooklyn precinct.

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Enforcement News - ODOUR

Pollution Abatement Notices (notices)

EPA has issued Australian Tallow Pty Ltd with a notice requiring them to undertake substantial works at their Geelong Road site to address longstanding odour issues. The company has been prohibited from storing product and waste outside and will also need to undertake works to entirely seal the building and ensure all emissions are treated by an appropriate air treatment system.

Charges

EPA has laid charges against Australian Tallow for three separate incidents last year, two with regard to odour and the other, a tallow spill to Kororoit Creek.

Cargill’s Enforceable Undertaking

In May, oilseed crushing plant Cargill Processing Ltd agreed to undertake more than $600,000 in works to fix odour issues at its Somerville Road site.

The outcome was signed off after EPA accepted what is legally referred to as an ‘Enforceable Undertaking’ which is an agreement between the two parties for works to be undertaken.

The result follows odour incidents at the oilseed crushing and solvent extraction facility in May and August last year.

Cargill have started implementing some improvement actions, such as appointing a full time Environmental Supervisor and holding regular open days for the community at their site. Other improvement actions include equipment upgrades, regular auditing at the site to ensure the improvements being made are successful and a $50,000 contribution to a local environment project.

Fines Issued

EPA has issued almost $18,000 worth of penalty infringement notices to the following companies:

1. Transpacific Waste Management Pty Ltd (TPI) fined $6000 for breaching their licence permitting nuisance dust beyond the boundary of the Jones Road landfill, Tasman Logistics fined $6000 for failing to address an existing notice and Chemprod Nominees fined $6000 for discharge of contaminated water to storm water.

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Brooklyn Community Representative Group (BCRG)

Brooklyn Community Representative Group (BCRG) aims to foster collaboration between community, industry and government to ensure ongoing clean air and reduced noise in the Brooklyn area.  The meetings are run every 4 months and are open to the community to attend. 

Meeting minutes can be found on the new BCRG Community Forum page of the Brooklyn Industrial Precinct website: http://www.brooklynip.com.au/bcrg-community-forum 

Next BCRG Meeting– Thursday 24 November

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Scientific Dust Monitoring Program

EPA commenced a dust monitoring program in late October 2009 to measure levels of small sized particles in air emanating from the Brooklyn industrial estate. There are currently two monitoring locations in the area, these include Brooklyn Reserve and Sunshine West.
For the 2009-10 financial year there were approximately 40 days where air quality did not meet the standards. EPA has been working with council and industry to address this issue and for the 2010-11 year there were only 19 days where air quality did not meet the standards, which sits below EPA’s target of not exceeding 20 days per year. EPA is committed to reducing this number again in the 2011-12 year.

EPA, councils, residents and industry attended a meeting on progress with dust and odour issues. 

• Summary of current action on Dust PANs (PDF 20KB).
• Dust and Your Health Fact Sheet (PDF 47KB).
• Brooklyn Air Monitoring and Health Fact Sheet (PDF 48KB).

Brooklyn Industrial Precinct on the Web

A new website is available to provide the latest updates from all agencies on improvements to Brooklyn.  www.BrooklynIP.com.au.

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Brooklyn Community Reference Group

Brooklyn Community Reference Group (BCRG) aims to foster collaboration between community, industry and government to ensure ongoing clean air and reduced noise in the Brooklyn area.  The meetings are run every 4 months and are open to the community to attend. 

Next BCRG Meeting– Thursday 24 November

• Draft meeting notes BCRG general meeting - 17 November (PDF 2.58 MB).
• Meeting notes BCRG general meeting - 15 September 2010 (PDF 268KB).

• Meeting notes BCRG general meeting - 15 July 2010 (PDF 963KB)
• Meeting notes BCRG Update meeting - 19 May 2010 (PDF 149KB)

• Meeting notes BCRG Update meeting - Dust monitoring (PDF 332KB)
• Meeting notes BCRG general meeting - 18 November 2009
• Meeting notes Dust subgroup meeting - 16 September 2009 (PDF 121KB)
• Meeting notes Odour subgroup meeting - 15 July 2009 (PDF 137KB)
• Meeting notes BCRG meeting - 20 May 2009 (PDF 135KB)
  

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Community Interest Groups

Yarraville On The Nose - based in the Yarraville and Kingsville area west of Williamstown Road.

Email:  coord.onthenose@gmail.com

Brooklyn Residents Action Group (BRAG) - based in the Brooklyn area bounded by Geelong Rd and the West Gate Freeway. Contact EPA for details.

Brooklyn dust monitoring data now available every hour

The Brooklyn monitoring station is located in the residential suburb of Brooklyn, South of Geelong Road and the Brooklyn Industrial Precinct. The site has been established to monitor levels of dust pollution from industrial sources within the estate impacting on surrounding residential communities and businesses.

Dust monitoring data (measured as PM10) from EPA's Brooklyn air monitoring station is now available on the Air Quality Bulletin website. The data displayed on the table is described as one-hour averages and updated every hour, describing the quality of air continuously throughout the day.

The one-hour data is collated daily and averaged over 24-hours. Measurements averaged over 24-hours are then compared with the National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) air quality objective of 50 µg/m³.  Click here to view 24-hour results.

One-hour particle readings are compared to a one-hour derived standard of 80 µg/m³. This standard generally provides a more rigorous assessment of air quality over one hour than the 24-hour standard. It is applied to all sites monitoring particles in Melbourne.

The one-hour data provides the community with frequent information on air quality so those sensitive to dust can take appropriate action to protect their health. It also provides industry with the information to better understand how their activities are affecting their local environment.

• one-hour air quality bulletins
• 24-hour results

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