Published on 07 August 2025
Specialist contractors are on site cleaning up the toxic waste dumped on public land that Moorabool Shire Council has been directed to clean up at a cost of $500,000 – that’s $25 for every ratepayer in the shire.
Works are expected to last until at least Friday and traffic management is in place in the area around Lerderderg Park Road in Merrimu.
Recently Council challenged at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) an Environment Protection Authority (EPA) order that it must clean up the dumped trailers of dissolved acetylene cylinders, which are highly flammable and filled with asbestos.
Council told VCAT it was not the source of the illegally dumped waste or responsible for it or its storage, and the EPA should take responsibility for the cleanup in line with its statutory duties and powers assigned to them under the Environmental Protection Act 2017. The EPA had the property the trailers originated from under surveillance for at least a year and had failed to act until the trailers turned up on Council-managed land.
“While the EPA watched, Moorabool Shire stepped up to protect our community and clean up a mess we didn’t make,” Mayor, Cr Paul Tatchell, said.
The cylinders are being removed from the trailers and inspected before being repacked into new truck trailers for safe transport to the sole facility in Victoria which can dispose of them correctly, located in Stawell.
Moorabool Shire is currently running a campaign targeting illegal dumping in the shire, particularly by builders and contractors coming into the area for work. More details: moorabool.vic.gov.au/illegal-dumping