NT Recycling Solutions Pty Ltd (NTRS) and its director were fined a total of $57,440 and ordered to pay $15,000 in costs in the Darwin Magistrates Court this morning when convicted for offences under the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act (the Act).
NTRS and its director, Leon Schulz, pleaded guilty to three offences brought against them by the NT Environment Protection Authority (NT EPA).
The court convicted NTRS of polluting the environment, resulting in material environmental harm (being the potential to have an adverse effect on the environment).
A fine of $55,440 was imposed on the company.
Leon Schulz was convicted and fined $1,000 for storing a contaminant or waste in a manner from which it was reasonably likely to escape and cause environmental harm.
He was also convicted and fined $1,000 for not complying with the company’s environment protection licence.
NT EPA chair Dr Bill Freeland said that environmental protection licences were important legal documents designed to allow a person or company to carry out an activity specified in the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act to ensure the activity was managed to minimise any environmental impacts.
Dr Freeland said that it’s not just companies, but all Territorians, who should be aware that any contaminants discharged or washed into the stormwater system in Darwin would enter Darwin Harbour and might cause significant impact.
“There is only one place they can go – and that’s the harbour.”
To raise awareness of the issue of stormwater pollution and drive improvement, the NT EPA has released its Stormwater Strategy for Darwin Harbour . As part of this, NT EPA officers are currently undertaking surveys and inspections of premises and businesses in the greater Darwin region to understand how business are currently addressing stormwater pollution, assess compliance with existing legislation and encourage greater understanding of the importance of clean stormwater.
Dr Freeland said, “Our first preference, of course, is to work with companies and individuals to assist with understanding and complying with the stormwater strategy, but the NT EPA will prosecute if it deems necessary.”
The court heard that a stormwater interceptor at the NTRS licensed premises in Winnellie discharged a significant quantity of oil, degreasers and other contaminants into the stormwater drainage system, and from there into a waterway and Reichardt Creek.
The petroleum hydrocarbon mixture discharged from the premises on 24 March 2014 had the potential to cause harmful impacts to freshwater and marine life, both plant and animal, in the Charles Darwin National Park and beyond into other parts of Darwin Harbour.
An ecotoxicologist for the NT EPA said in a statement tendered to the court that, “The petroleum hydrocarbon mixture sampled from the discharge had the potential to cause environmental harm of weeks to months duration to land, water, organisms and ecosystems in the Charles Darwin National Park and beyond into other parts of Darwin Harbour.
“Potential environmental harm extends not only to plants and animals directly exposed to the spilt fuel but to branches of the food chain dependent on consumption of plants and animals that could be contaminated,” the statement read.
To read the full Stormwater Strategy for Darwin Harbour visit http://www.ntepa.nt.gov.au/about-nt-epa/publications/publications
Media inquiries: Helen Farquhar 0437 458213