On the front foot

THEY say that people who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

This looks to be the philosophy adopted by several key stakeholders who seem determined not to repeat the mistakes of the disaster that is the C&D Recycling site in Lara.

That giant mound of mess is the result of ignored warning signs and a slow reaction from a few organisations, most notably the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which had several concerns raised and numerous opportunities over almost four years to cancel the operator’s permit.

With the company now in liquidation and the former operator currently appealing a jail term, questions remain about who is going to foot the significant bill — estimated to be as high as $100 million — to clean up around 350,000 cubic meters of waste still piled up at the Broderick Rd site.

And when you factor in the environmental impact — not to mention the fire and safety threats that have taken significant costs to minimise — our community will be paying the price for these mistakes for quite some time to come.

Which is why it is heartening to see VCAT and the City of Greater Geelong get on the front foot at another site which looks to have the potential to cause some headaches.

A recycling facility at Staceys Rd in Lovely Banks has been placed on an interim order banning it from collecting waste until $1.195 million is paid to guarantee the cost of a clean-up if something does go wrong.

The order follows several incidents at the site which have been enough to raise the concerns of those who have seen the warning signs before — an $8000 fine in February for illegally stockpiling waste, and a recent mulch fire that took 20 fire trucks to bring under control.

While recycling and waste management are fraught issues at the moment, we have to ensure facilities are managed correctly to ensure communities aren’t left to clean up the mess.

Just ask the people of Lara of the legacy communities inherent when things go wrong.