The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has issued three penalty notices for illegal dumping at the Sydney Trains electrical substation on Layton Avenue in Blaxland after identifying the dumpers through surveillance footage.
All three offences were captured by Sydney Trains surveillance cameras which were installed at the Blaxland site earlier this year in response to reports of illegal dumping.
The images were used to find the owners of the vehicles and EPA waste compliance officers were then able to track down the drivers and issue the infringement notices.
A local tree-lopping business in the name of Ian Keill was issued two $4000 fines following two illegal dumping incidents in February. The business tipped two loads of leaf mulch – totalling around 14 cubic metres – onto the substation site.
Another individual – Blaxland resident Anthony Wyndham - received one $4000 fine for using a hired van to dump a load of broken furniture at the same site at 4am on February 16.
EPA Manager Regional Waste Compliance Cate Woods said the unlawful disposal of waste was much more than just an eyesore.
“This waste could have caused water pollution, damage important public infrastructure, and block access to the substation – an obstruction which could have dramatic effects if there were to be an emergency at the site,” she said.
“Surveillance cameras were installed at the substation because instances of illegal dumping there had become all too frequent. The use of technology like these cameras can go a long way to helping us stop illegal dumping in the Blaxland area.”
The infringements incurred fines under the charge of transporting waste to a place that cannot lawfully receive it.
Penalty notices are just one of a number of tools the EPA can use to achieve environmental compliance, including formal warnings, licence conditions, notices and directions, mandatory audits, enforceable undertakings, legally binding pollution reduction programs and prosecutions.
