By Gabriel Mills-Connolly (RMIT Journalism graduating student)
An environmental disaster at the Kealba landfill is set to continue indefinitely with the company responsible likely to get its license to operate returned.
The landfill is owned and operated by the concreting company Barro Group and has been burning for six years sending toxic fumes into nearby neighborhoods.
The EPA has been in a legal battle with Barro since they revoked Barro’s operating licence back in 2023, but in a remarkable turnaround in July this year the EPA withdrew its criminal proceedings.
During a community meeting on the 23rd of September the EPA’s acting Executive Director Rachel Gualano said they dropped the criminal charges because legal advice determined “there was low chance of success.”
Ms Gualano said the EPA will focus on the VCAT proceeding so “Barro doesn’t get its licence back,” adding that this is the best use of EPA’s administrative resources.
She also said “if they applied for a licence today then they wouldn’t receive one.”
Barro Group states that the landfill only takes solid inert waste, construction and demolition waste, cleanfill, and shredded tires.
Dr Ian Mudway is senior lecturer in the school of public health at Imperial College London. He says new research shows shredded tires emit PFAS chemicals, which have been connected to increased cancer rates, reproductive and developmental issues, and effects on immune and hormonal systems.
“Tires contain a lot of chemicals and they’re completely unregulated. Manufacturers can put anything they want into tires…and many things they put into tires are highly environmentally mobile,” says Dr Mudway.
“As soon as you start burning things, then you change the chemistry of what’s in the air … you’ll be releasing cooked chemicals that aren’t regulated because they’re quite variable.”
The Kealba Landfill has been the cause of a contentious fight between residents and Barro Group for 16 years.
In 2009, Barro Group applied for a permit to operate the basalt quarry turned landfill but it was rejected by the Brimbank Council. Residents of the surrounding suburbs had strong objections regarding concerns of dust, odour, noise and a lack of adequate environmental buffers.
Barro went to VCAT resulting in a three-year battle that took them to the Victorian Supreme Court. Ultimately, Barro Group successfully argued their appeal and the landfill went ahead.
Nicole Power is one of those residents and like a true battler hasn’t stopped fighting. She lives on the border of St Albans and Kealba and has been severely affected by the odour from the fires.
When Nicole found out about the EPA’s decision to drop the criminal charges she says “it was absolutely gut wrenching.”
She describes nights when she’d wake up to the smell and felt trapped in a toxic prison.
“It’s now going on six years this November…and the worst part is they’re going to VCAT to get their licence back and build more cells.”
Dr Ian Mudway has had years of experience consulting on environmental policy and the health impacts of air pollution in London. He says persistent toxic odours cause serious and gradual mental health disintegration.
“The burden is the communities around these sites are significantly mentally harmed by the nuisance of smell, but also a sense of powerlessness, because whenever they raise a complaint, they’re effectively slapped down.”
Dr Mudway says “environmental health is an endless tale of everybody observing the effects after the event, despite early warnings that they should’ve been more careful.”
Barro Group was asked about their future plans with the landfill but have yet to comment.
Brimbank councillor Virginia Tachos says she stands one hundred percent with the community.
”We fought to stop the landfill from going ahead back in the 2000s, and we don’t want them to have their licence now.’
“It’s their first landfill business and it went horribly wrong,” she says.
State MP for St Albans Natalie Suleyman is also extremely disappointed with the EPA’s decision to drop criminal charges against the Barro Group.
“I strongly encourage residents and our local community to unite and send a strong message: that we oppose Barro Group recommencing any form of operations at Kealba Landfill. Residents can visit my website to sign the petition.”
Resident Mirian has been living in Kealba for 20 years and took part in the community campaign against the landfill back in 2009.
When she discovered the smells in her house were due to the landfill fires she went through a “range of emotions.”
After researching solid inert waste she was shocked to discover it contained flammable materials like timber, plastic, and shredded tires.
She was also angry with the poor design of the landfill due to the stone lined walls of the basalt quarry being slanted enough for air to enter the landfill.
Nicole and Mirian share a deep frustration and feel the EPA, state MP’s and council have failed them and they’re sick of “token gestures…and being treated as a handball.”
Nicole says “There’s no clarity on the future of the site … there were hundreds of us at the start and now there’s only 5 that come to the meetings…we’re all landfilled out.”
Mirian says “The thing that makes me so angry about it is it’s just a solid inert landfill, do we really need it?”
Both Nicole and Mirian have experienced asthma since living in the area and Nicole has had attacks which have taken her to hospital.
Dr Trevour Thornton is a senior lecturer in sustainability at Deakin University with experience working for the EPA and the management of hazardous wastes.
He thinks the EPA needs to be more proactive and explain their responsibilities and powers.
Dr Thornton says the EPA also needs to weigh up the consequences because if Barro loses their licence, the financial consequences could be more impactful than just a fine.
“Clean ups, remediation, and monitoring…” are all costs “…and it’s not like they’ll cancel the licence, and everyone walks away, the company still owns the landfill, so they’re still responsible for doing whatever’s required to reduce health related impacts.”
As it stands, locals will have to wait whilst the VCAT process takes place. Barro could take the fight to the Supreme Court again and spend years fighting for their licence.
Barro Group has contracted a landfill fire monitoring and management consultancy called landfillfires.com, which is a subsidiary of a Canadian firm Sperling Hansen Associates.
According to monitoring done by Barro Group there has been a reduction in fires but there is still one large smoldering fire. Both the EPA and Barro expect the fire to continue for another 4 years.
If you have something to say about your experience with these landfill fires over the past six years, contact The Westsider and share your story.
