EPA shuts down Brooklyn recycler after court case

EPA Victoria has revoked the permissions of a recycler on Bunting Rd, Brooklyn, after an extensive investigation and $45,000 in court-imposedfines and costs for the company and its Director.

Limbourne Group can no longer operate a waste transfer facility, after being issued with a Notice of Revocation on 24 October 2024 for its EPA permissions. The decision was based on the company’s continued non-compliance and the risk to human health and the environment from the activities conducted at the premises.

Limbourne Group Pty Ltd has been trading as Apex Waste Control, operatingas a skip bin hire and materials recycling business.

EPA revoked the permissions on the grounds that the company had failed to comply withseveral regulatory notices and the company Director, Nicholas Limbourne, was not considered a fit and proper person to engage in the permission activities.

The EPAnotices required the company to prepare an emergency management plan and fire risk assessment, stop accepting waste, provide documentation that helped track the collection and receival of waste, and make its stockpiles of combustible and recyclable wastecomply with safety regulations. Thecompany failed tocomply with all of them.

The Melbourne Magistrates’ Courtfound the company and its director guilty without conviction of failure to comply with the notices on 27 May 2024. Nicholas Limbourne was also found to have illegally deposited industrial waste by burning at a property in Great Western.

The burning stockpile consisted of construction and demolition waste mixed with industrial waste, including bricks, soil, timber, plastic, tiles and cementsheet, that had been set on fire and left to smoulder for weeks before someone called the CFA.The waste was from sites in the nearby town of Stawell.

An associated company, TombellLimsed Pty Ltd, was also found to have failed to comply witha regulatory notice, fined $3,000 and ordered to remove industrial waste from the premises on Sandy Creek Road in Great Western.

EPA Western Metropolitan Regional Manager Jeremy Settle says the case has a clear message for businesses everywhere.

“EPA regulatory notices are there to protect the environment and the community, and must be taken seriously,” Mr Settle said.

“Most businesses do their best to meet their responsibilities under the Environment Protection Act, but there is no option of ignoring it and hoping it will go away, for those who don’t,” he said.

The court case and notice of revocation follow an extensive investigation,the use of aerial surveillance dronesand a prosecution in court by EPA Victoria.

Additional background

There’s more information about the 27 May 2024 court casehere: epa.vic.gov.au/about-epa/news-media-and-updates/media-releases-and-news/director-told-to-45000-fine-and-costs(opens in a new window)