By Cam Lucadou-Wells
EPA Victoria has issued notices against two companies in Dandenong South’s industrial zone to cut down on their putrid stench.
The notices issued in late March come after complaints by long-frustrated residents in nearby Dandenong and Keysborough South.
The area is home to an industrial 2 zone – which is reserved for the state’s most offensive industries and requires extensive buffer zones.
An EPA spokesperson said the two companies could not be named “for legal reasons”.
“We have followed up to ensure progress is being made to pinpoint sources and take the necessary action to reduce odour.
“EPA Notices are legal instruments directing that a certain action be taken.
“As the matter is ongoing, we are limited in what we can say, but EPA has kept (Greater Dandenong) Council informed and will continue to do so in either written form or in person.”
However, Greater Dandenong councillor Rhonda Garad said the council was frustrated by the lack of communication from EPA.
Last year, Greater Dandenong announced a push for more EPA air monitoring of affected residential estates but it has “fallen on deaf ears”, Cr Garad said.
The council had been “begging” for more information such as the sources of the stench, whether it threatens human health and the triggers for the EPA to take action.
“I find it difficult to understand why a public body like the EPA does not do more to exercise its obligation to communicate with the people it’s supposed to protect.
“How are we supposed to find comfort in that?
“If a local government can’t get answers, how on Earth can a local community?”
Councillors have raised the idea of lobbying for the relocation of Dandenong South’s industrial two zone, which they argue is too close to homes.
The proposal has been consistently rebuffed by the State Government.
Since the IZ2 zone was established in 1976, it has been steadily encroached by light industry, housing estates, sports fields and schools in Keysborough and Dandenong South.
Some homes are within the zone’s supposed 1.5-kilometre buffer zone.
Residents within 3 kilometres have complained about odours, and opposed a recently-approved waste-to-energy plant in Ordish Road.
Keysborough South resident Dom Bocarri said the foul odours continue to plague his neighbourhood.
And still, he and other residents haven’t been categorically told what the stench is.
“It’s an unpleasant, unbearable smell. It’s like dead animals.”
Mr Boccari wants extra air monitoring stations closer to the zone, testing for “harmful toxins” and providing real-time data.
He suggests stations at the Lyndhurst toxic waste dump, the IZ2 in Dandenong South, and the CALM mound at the corner of Eastlink and Greens Road as well as the Eastern Treatment plant in Bangholme “What I am really disappointed about is that the council and the EPA are doing stuff-all. They’re giving us lip service.
“It’s a concern they’re not taking it seriously, given it’s affecting primary schools and secondary schools and everyday workers in the surrounding industrial estate.”
Currently, the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has a fixed air-monitoring station in Greaves Reserve, Dandenong, which provides real-time air quality data on a public website.
It’s about two kilometres north of the IZ2 – too far away to effectively warn households and schools in Dandenong South and Keysborough that surround the zone, Mr Bocarri argues.
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