SITA Australia has pleaded guilty in the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court to breaching its EPA licence by allowing odours offensive to humans to be discharged beyond the boundary of its Brooklyn composting facility in Melbourne. The incident, which took place in September 2008, has cost the company $50,000.

The court heard local residents had complained on the day of the incident of an unbearable and sickening smell coming from the site. EPA officers responding to the calls detected a strong compost odour in the downwind direction of SITA’s premises.

An inspection of SITA’s green waste windrows revealed an “intense compost odour” coming from these windrows. Further investigation of SITA’s work practices established that windrows of composting material had been turned over on the day the incident occurred.

EPA’s director environmental services Bruce Dawson said the smell emanating from the site on the day was particularly offensive, causing local residents discomfort and distress.

“SITA is required under its EPA licence conditions to ensure odour is confined to the site,” he said. “Composting facilities need to have odour control measures in place, which prevent odour from impacting the broader community. EPA is working with these companies to identify and implement improved technologies for odour control.”

The court imposed a $40,000 penalty, which will fund the Brooklyn Environmental and Educational Sustainability Program, run by Hobsons Bay City Council.

The Program consists of Energy-saving retro-fits of local Brooklyn facilities; development of a community-based tree planting program and a local community launch of sustainability workshops and home energy audits; delivery of a series of workshops on sustainability, covering topics such as reducing energy use in the home, water saving in the home, personal eco-footprint calculation and sustainable gardening.

SITA was also ordered to pay EPA’s court costs of $10,000.

Meanwhile, EPA Victoria has also fined a Cranbourne waste transfer station, Consolidated Waste (Victoria) Pty Ltd, for odour issues at its Cemetery Road site last October. Consolidated faced a much smaller fine, $5,841

EPA’s south metro manager Susanna Young said the regualtor received more than 100 odour complaints over a two-month period to its pollution watchline.

“EPA officers visited the site and found the odour to be caused by composting green waste that had been stockpiled and begun to decompose,” she said.

“Normally a waste transfer station accepts and processes waste within a certain timeframe but in this instance a problem was encountered with the end receiver and the waste did not get moved on.”

A notice was issued by EPA to the company to control the odour but, while there were some initial improvements, the odour and the complaints persisted. Young said the best outcome would have been to have the waste temporarily diverted to landfill until the end receiver was able to take the waste.

“This incident may have been avoided if the company had an environmental management plan in place to identify risks and prevent incidents like this from occurring,” she said.

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