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The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will take a waste facility to court after residents said they put up with a putrid smell it omitted for a year.
The NSW agency said on Thursday the action was necessary after 800 complaints were submitted to them by fed-up householders.
Locals around Eastern Creek, in Sydney’s west, had been forced to close windows and send grandkids away as the strong egg-gas smell began to permeate their homes.
Bingo Industries could cop a $1million fine for being the source of the dreaded smell that has stopped locals from putting washing on the line and from going outside.
EPA Executive Director Steve Beaman told Ben Fordham’s 2GB audience they have commenced criminal proceedings against Dial A Dump, a subsidiary of Bingo.
‘Charges have been laid in the NSW Land and Environment Court and we are waiting for the court to set a timetable,’ Mr Beaman said.
‘The offence of omitting offensive odours carries a maximum penalty for a corporation of up to $1million.’
Fordham suggested the fine wasn’t enough to punish Bingo’s multi-million dollar business, and asked why the agency had waited so long to take the company to court.
‘It’s not a case of waiting, from day one we have had investigators working on this, these matters are complex,’ Mr Beaman said.
Mr Beaman also thanked the community for notifying the EPA about the offensive odour so they could gather data, and encouraged more to come forward.
‘We will put forward our best arguments, very strongly and robustly [about] what we think the evidence shows and it’s for the court to make the decision.’
When the problems started in the area last year there were calls for the EPA to close the waste facility, until it could solve the problem.
Locals in Minchinbury, Mount Druitt, St Clair, Rooty Hill, Doonside and Blacktown all reported the constant stench was so bad that it stopped them having mates over for BBQs, and made them depressed.
In a post on its site, Bingo Industries said they were continuing to address the smell issue via remedial and preventative measures at the Eastern Creek landfill location.
The company said it had connected five additional gas collection wells, and six of the flares used to burn waste gases are fully operational after one had been damaged.
Bingo Industries told Daily Mail Australia it had spent in excess of $3 million on odour monitoring and mitigation infrastructure at its Eastern Creek facility.
‘This includes the expedited installation of a temporary advanced gas collection and management system which is now operating effectively,’ it said in a statement.
‘The company has committed a further $4million for the installation of a permanent gas collection and management system, which was approved by the Department of Planning and Environment in March 2022 and will be in place before the end of this year.’
A Bingo spokesman said the odour complaints refer to a period between April and June last year.
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