The Tullamarine toxic waste dump is likely to be closed permanently after the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) announced that from February 18 no more waste would be accepted at the site, pending an inquiry.
\"Waste will only continue to be accepted at the site should EPA agree that capacity is available in line with the conditions of the licence\", the authority's Bruce Dawson said on February 12.
This seems unlikely due to recent revelations that the dump's owner, Transpacific Cleanaway, had stockpiled an additional 15,000 cubic metres of contaminated waste away from the appropriate landfill dumping area. At a Public Advisory Committee hearing last December, the company said it only had a capacity of 10,000 cubic metres left at the site.
In addition, vinyl chloride — a carcinogenic gas — has been found to be leaking into the Moonee Ponds Creek and the groundwater underneath the nearby airport car park.
The closure of the Tullamarine toxic waste dump would not have come about without the vigilance of local community groups, in particular the Terminate Tulla Toxic Dump Action Group (TTTDAG). Made up of local residents from the suburbs of Westmeadows, Gladstone Park, Attwood and Tullamarine, TTTDAG monitored the dump and publicly protested its continued threat to local residents' health and the environment.
Kaylene Wilson from TTTDAG told Green Left Weekly on March 20 that "We've been vigilant and on their backs, getting our experts in and not just believing what Cleanaway said\".
A survey of 200 families in the area by TTTDAG revealed 68 cases of cancer, a rate five times the national average. The issue of air quality continues to concern local residents. \"The EPA said in August last year that they would start air monitoring\", Wilson told GLW. \"We need it to happen now, we need to know if it's safe what we are breathing in! And we don't want just one monitoring pole, but monitoring in all directions from the dump.\"
On February 14, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported that the EPA was considering prosecuting Cleanaway for breaches of its licence. EPA chairperson Mick Bourke was quoted as saying: \"The investigations haven't finished yet but it's likely we will prosecute ... We have to see if there's a case for where we want to go which will take a couple of months.\"
\"I'm hoping the EPA will prosecute [Cleanaway]\", Wilson said. \"There should be a really big fine for such a blatant breach. They can't turn a blind eye to this sort of behaviour.\"
Harry van Moorst from the Western Region Environment Centre wrote in an email to supporters on February 12 that it was now important to \"make sure [Cleanaway] fully rehabilitate the site as far as practicable before they walk away from the site — this will be a substantial effort over the next couple of years\".
[Residents who wish to volunteer to continue monitoring the site or who have health concerns can phone Kathlene on 0402 135 507 or (03) 9308 7515 or visit