The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA NSW) has issued two penalty notices and fined a waste processing company $30,000 for breaching the conditions of its Environment Protection Licence and causing water pollution at its facility.
EPA NSW officers identified several areas of concerns when inspecting Biocoal Group’s facility in Somersby, in the Central Coast region, last October. These included the inadequate processing, handling and storage of waste material on site, as well as the discharge of leachate, with elevated nutrient levels, from a waste stockpile into the path of Piles Creek.
As well as the two penalty notice, EPA NSW also handed Biocoal Group two official cautions for failing to comply with conditions of its Environment Protection Licence.
The company has taken steps since the October inspection to improve its operations to comply with its licence, including removing over 200,000 litres of water from the site, improvements to the leachate collection system to ensure leachate does not mix with stormwater, and implementing an updated water management plan.
Details of requirements around avoiding water pollution in NSW can be found on the EPA NSW website.
