Dandenong dairy waste stink attracts “swarm of insects”, fine

Veolia Environmental Services (Australia) and Veolia Recycling & Recovery have each been fined $9,880 over a “smelly mess that attracted a swarm of insects to a factory” at Dandenong South in Victoria earlier this year, the state’s Environmental Protection Authority has said. 

According to a statement from EPA Victoria on Tuesday, complaints had been made and inspections made by their officers in January, which “found pallets of dairy waste being stored without an EPA permit or licence” at the site.

“At the time, the weather was hot, the waste had been stored in the warehouse since October 2024 without any refrigeration, and the odour was strong enough to linger in the officers’ uniforms” after visiting the site at Stephen Road, said the EPA.

It added that there were signs that spilled waste in the driveway had “begun to congeal in the sun.”

Veolia Environmental Services was fined for “unlawfully depositing more than 1,000 litres of waste at a place that was not licensed to accept it,” and the Veolia Recycling & Recovery division fined for failing to notify the EPA of the breach immediately. Both are part of Veolia Australia and New Zealand.

“The mess was quickly cleaned up, once EPA made contact” the agency added, and that the operator “has the right to have the infringement notices reviewed or be considered by a court” under the Environment Protection Act 2017 and the Infringements Act 2006.

Picture: credit