The locals say that there is a "Pollution trail to this megadump", and yet leachate problems affecting watercourses don't seem to be major, and are less acute than in the previous 4 years this article mentions. It is an operational hazard for a landfill owner that delivery vehicles may fly tip, and the public blame the site operator for transgressions which in truth are beyond the control of the landfill operator. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for leachate odours when it must surely be possible to recirculate leachate inoto old mature waste where it will be treated anaeribically and without odur within the waste? Read the article below about this case and visit the original article site by using the link below the quoted article:
IAN MALOUF, the man who boasts he is opening the biggest landfill site in the southern hemisphere at Eastern Creek, acknowledges pollution lapses by his waste empire. But he blames them on rogue employees and waste transporters.
(Video shows Lucas Heights Landfill, Sydney and not the landfill in the article.)
Mr Malouf, the self-made millionaire behind Dial a Dump, told The Sun-Herald that he runs a conscientious business and pollution offences this year arose from employees ''breaching strict guidelines and procedures of which they were adequately aware''.
But it is not the first time. Companies linked to Mr Malouf have been subject to five clean-up orders in the past five years, according to the Office of Environment and Heritage.
In April this year, the OEH received numerous complaints about odours again coming from Mr Malouf's Alexandra Landfill site. A surprise inspection found a pipe connected to infested leachate, which was pumping it into a stormwater drain.
Then, in June, OEH inspectors again visited the site and found his wife Larissa's company, Boiling Pty Ltd, had 170,000-cubic-metre stockpiles of waste contaminated with asbestos. Other pollution breaches date back to 2002, when Mr Malouf's company Alexandria Landfill Pty Ltd was ordered to clean up leachates after residents complained about a stench.
In 2007, another property, at Marulan, was found with 1300 cubic metres of asbestos-contaminated soil levelled and spread across it. This property belongs to Mr Malouf's mother-in-law, Kathleen Hopkins's company, Kathkin Pty Ltd, as trustee for his five children.
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A spokesman for the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, said he was made aware of the investigations by the OEH before attending the opening party for Mr Malouf's new venture at the Eastern Creek landfill site on December 8 - a $500,000 celebration that featured 600 guests, acrobats, fireworks and a lion cub.
Mr O'Farrell's spokesman said: ''That's why he went out of his way during his remarks at the opening to say the NSW government has a strong independent environmental regulator and he expects all companies to comply or face the full force of the law.''
But inquiries by The Sun-Herald have revealed that Mr Malouf - who with his wife has donated almost $40,000 to the Liberal Party in recent years - has not yet been granted a licence to operate the landfill known as the Genesis facility. The application is with the OEH, which is considering it.
Alexandria Landfill and Boiling are yet to complete the clean-up ordered at the Alexandria sites.
Mr Malouf said the property on Red Hills Road at Marulan was cleaned up at his own expense. He said it was inadvertently contaminated with asbestos after a delivery of landscaping materials to the family property.
''Naturally I would not endanger the health and wellbeing of my children intentionally,'' he said.
More belowMr Malouf said the companies had never been prosecuted and that he ''would have preferred that these events necessitating clean-up notices had not occurred''.
In an emailed response to questions, he said: ''As the CEO of the organisation which has held environmental protection licences for almost 25 years, it is understandable that during that period of time one or two incidents would be expected to occur. Those employees never get named but as a hands-on CEO I must carry that burden.''
Mr Malouf lists his address as a mansion in Vaucluse which traded last year for $15 million and was once owned by the Adler family. He is a law school dropout who decided that his future was in waste. After leaving school, he has said, he raised $700 cash to buy a truck and went door-to-door offering to take rubbish to the tip. He bought a tipper truck and a bobcat and his mother answered the phones while his father helped shovel loads of rubbish. Over the past two decades, he has built the Dial a Dump empire which stretches from skip bins to waste and recycling.
Records show he bought the Alexandria Landfill site from Sydney City Council in 2000 and created a recycling facility. In 2002 he was issued with four clean-up notices after the OEH received complaints relating to odours. Inspectors found landfill leachate was causing the stench. Another clean-up notice was issued after failed attempts to fix the problem and complaints increased.
In 2005 Mr Malouf paid $143 million for the Eastern Creek site and he said he spent another $157 million developing it. It will boast state-of-the-art recycling technology. He has promised there will be no odours, and lining of the pit to stop leaching.
Asked about the leachate at the Alexandria site, Mr Malouf said: ''We are not aware that it [pumping of leachates] has ever happened and the matter is currently being investigated by OEH. Management has conducted an internal voluntary environmental audit and believes it has isolated the identity of a person or persons who may have potentially breached the site's operational procedures.''
The OEH report said the asbestos ''stockpiles'' at the same site were believed to have been generated by the processing of waste. Mr Malouf blamed a waste transporter for depositing the material. He said that transporter had now been banned.
The OEH said it had ''current'' investigations into the Malouf companies, which were preparing advice about how to fix the problems.
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