Questions and Answers from the March Community Meeting
EPA at the last community meeting in March promised the community to provide a response to a number of questions in relation to the proposed clean. The response to the questions is as follows.
- What do EPA’s policies indicate/stipulate regarding remediation or dig and dump?
- What can be done if there is an odour that is strong enough for a complaint to be made?
- How is odour monitored?
What do EPA’s policies indicate/stipulate regarding remediation or dig and dump?
The Environment Protection Act 1970 provides a number of principles for the management of waste. The principle of waste hierarchy below shows how waste is managed in accordance with the following order of preference:
- Avoidance
- Re-use
- Re-cycling
- Recovery of energy
- Treatment
- Containment
- Disposal
Given this principle, where possible treatment is preferred to disposal. If the environmental performance objectives are not met then other options such as off site treatment and/or disposal may have to be utilised.
What can be done if there is an odour that is strong enough for a complaint to be made?
EESI Contracting Pty Ltd has a complaints register. All complaints received by EESI Contracting will be recorded in the complaints register and retained for future reference.
A delegated person within EESI Contracting will be responsible for registering and delegating complaints to the appropriate personnel for action. All complaints will be investigated and dealt with promptly and followed up with the person(s) who made the complaint with what additional mitigation measures have been put in place where applicable.
EPA will be doing routine surveillance throughout the RAP and encourage residents to contact us with their concerns via the EPA Pollution Watchline (24 hours) 1800 444 004; EPA Geelong Office on weekdays between 9 am – 5 pm. Phone: 5226 4825 or Fax: 5226 4632 or via email.
How is odour monitored?
The assessment of offensive odour is a very subjective process in that differing levels and types of odour can impact people in different ways. In the field, EPA assesses offensive odour by nose and looks at what a “fair and reasonable person” would consider as offensive. Officers are trained to assess offensive odour by firstly establishing where the complainant can smell the odour and trace it back to a source. This is not an easy task as odour can change with wind direction and can disappear as quickly as it appears.
In establishing offensiveness, EPA takes into account:
- Weather conditions, including wind speed and direction.
- Odour character.
- Strength.
- Duration.
- Time of day.
- Location.
- Impact on receptor.