A Putty man who knowingly bought asbestos contaminated land has been fined $15,000 after allegedly processing the asbestos in a way that could have generated wind-borne fibres and caused further environmental damage.
The EPA issued two penalty infringement notices of $7500 each to Michael Laird for illegal use of the Yengo Drive property as a waste facility, and illegal reuse and recycling of asbestos.
Before Mr Laird bought the property a report was prepared as part of the sale contract that found it was contaminated with 2820m³ of stockpiled asbestos.
Mr Laird informed the EPA that he processed the stockpiled asbestos and then reused it to create the building pad for a house.
The EPA alleged that the processing and reuse of asbestos waste at the site potentially may have caused significant environmental harm by generating wind-borne asbestos fibres and further contaminated the property.
Penalty notices are one of several tools used by the EPA to achieve environmental compliance, including formal warnings, licence conditions, notices and directions, mandatory audits, legally binding pollution reduction programs, enforceable undertakings and prosecutions.
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