This is a list of environmental issues that have resulted in environmental damage in

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

Air pollution

* 2019-2022: An excessive amount of dust, odours and other nuisible substances were emitted by Monsbent Pty Ltd, also known as D&R Henderson, in

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

. The company was charged a fine of $80,000 in court in 2021 and taken to court again in 2022 for failing to comply with their authorised licence.

Industrial fires

Smoke 2018 Warehouse fire in West Footscray

* 2017: A fire started in SKM recycling plants in

Coolaroo Coolaroo is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Coolaroo recorded a population of 3,193 at the 2021 census. History Coolaroo is ...

emitting smoke and ashes impacting local neighbourhoods forcing some local residents to be evacuated. The company was ordered to pay a fine of $1.2 million. * 2018: An industrial fire started in West Footscray in a warehouse storing chemicals illegally caused health issues to residents and killed local wildlife from

Stony Creek Stony Creek may refer to the following waterways or communities: Waterways Australia * Stony Creek, a tributary of the Allyn River, in the Hunter region of New South Wales * Stony Creek, a tributary of the Brogo River, in the South Coast region ...

and

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

. * 2020: A toxic fire erupted at an e-waste recycling facility in

Campbellfield Campbellfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Campbellfield recorded a population of 4,977 at the 2021 census. History Camp ...

causing loud explosions audible from kilometres away. Some of the contaminated water used to fight the fire spread out to

Merlynston Creek Merlynston Creek is a tributary of Merri Creek in Melbourne's northern suburbs, in Victoria, Australia. The creek originates in an industrial area in the National Boulevard Reserve, north of Upfield railway station in the north of Campbellfield ...

and Jack Roper Reserve. * 2021: In January two fires started in

Laverton North Laverton North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Laverton North recorded a population of 119 at the 2021 census. Located ne ...

. A large industrial fire started at a metal recycling facility and a second fire at a steel recycling facility. * 2024: A fire lasted for two days in a stockpile of recycling materials in

Laverton north Laverton North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Laverton North recorded a population of 119 at the 2021 census. Located ne ...

Odour pollution

* 2019: Kealba Sunshine Landfill emitted a strong smell for three years due to underground fires, Barro Group, the company got charged for several breaches of their general environmental duty. * 2020:

Visy Visy Industries (known as Pratt Industries USA in the US) is a privately owned Australian-American paper, packaging and recycling company established in Melbourne in 1948. Visy was founded by a number of people. Richard Pratt acted as the hea ...

paper mill in

Reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

released odorous steam due to its treatment process and several complaints were submitted by local communities which lead the company to be fined. * 2021-2023: SBI Landfill in Cranbourne emitted continuous odour which impacted nearby residents. After more than 5,000 complaints, EPA Victoria took the company to court. * 2022: Van Hessen sausage skin manufacturer in

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census. The city is located at the confluence, junction of the Ovens River, ...

emitted a strong smell due to the wastewater treatment system, more than 160 reports were received and the company was found guilty in a court hearing.

Soil pollution

2016: Lead shots coming from the

Clay Target Shooting Club were found in the North Wangaratta Recreation Reserve which caused the lead levels to be above health conditions. The club closed for six months to remove the contaminated soil. * 2018: 32 sites containing illegal medical and toxic waste were found within the 1400 acre property of Lemon Springs in

Kaniva Kaniva is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Western Highway, north of Little Desert National Park, in the Shire of West Wimmera local government area. It is located roughly east of the South Australian border and east of Bo ...

. The owner of the land partnered with a company to offer cheap alternatives for toxic waste. EPA Victoria removed more than 1,650 tonnes of liquid waste and 13,500 tonnes of contaminated soil. *2019: A recycling facility on Broderick road in

Lara Lara may refer to: People * Lara (name), can be a given name or a surname in several languages * Lara (mythology), a naiad nymph, daughter of the river Almo in Ovid's ''Fasti'' Places *Lara (state), a state in Venezuela * Electoral district ...

stockpiled around 300,000 tonnes of construction waste, including asbestos, which created a high risk of fire. EPA Victoria finished the three years long clean-up in 2022 after the company went into liquidation.

Tyre stockpiles

* 2017: Approximately one million tyres that weighed about 9500 tonnes were removed in over 380 truck loads from a site in Stawell that posed a fire risk. The removal was completed in nine weeks. The removal cost EPA Victoria A$4.5 million. * 2019: Approximately half a million tyres that weighed 5000 tonnes were removed over 10 weeks from a site in

Numurkah Numurkah ( ) is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located on the Goulburn Valley Highway, north of Shepparton, in the Shire of Moira. At the , Numurkah had a population of 4,768. History The area was occupied by the Yorta ...

that posed a fire risk. The removal cost EPA Victoria A$2 million.

Water pollution

Water testing contaminated water from lake

2018:

PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (also PFAS, PFASs, and informally referred to as "forever chemicals") are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain; there are 7 millio ...

chemicals were found in groundwater at

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

plant impacting local agriculture and livestock operations. The chemicals, known to be linked to cancer in people and animals, impacted the operations of livestock operations. * 2018: Fatty and smelly liquid were found in the Yuroke Creek, in

Broadmeadows Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District and the council seat of the City of Hume local government area. Broadmeadows recorded a population of 12,524 at the 2021 census. It i ...

, due to a leak coming from a local dairy manufacturing company. The leak caused damage to the wildlife and vegetation. * 2021: Foster Creek in

Korumburra Korumburra is a town in the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located on the South Gippsland Highway, south-east of Melbourne, in the South Gippsland Shire local government area. At ...

received wastewater from

South Gippsland South Gippsland, a region of Gippsland in Victoria, Australia, is a well-watered region consisting of low, rolling hills descending to the coast in the south and the Latrobe Valley in the north. It is part of the larger Gippsland Basin bioreg ...

Water's treatment plant due to an excess in its processing capacity. * 2022: 13,000 litres of detergent were spilled in

Cherry Lake Cherry Lake (also known as Lake Lloyd) is an artificial lake in the Stanislaus National Forest of Tuolumne County, California, U.S.A., about east of the city of Sonora. It is at an elevation of on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, and l ...

after an industrial fire happened in

and killed 20 tonnes of fish. * 2022: Sediments were reported running through the

Yarrowee river The Yarrowee River (or Yaramlok in the Aboriginal language) is a perennial river of the Corangamite catchment, located in the Central Highlands region of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features The Yarrowee is a major tribut ...

impacting flora and fauna. * 2022: East Gippsland Water got fined twice for discharging million litres of wastewater into Macleod Morass and failing to comply with their regulatory notice to EPA Victoria. * 2023: Concrete gravel escaped through stormwater drains in

and caused risk to local waterways and

Cherry lake Cherry Lake (also known as Lake Lloyd) is an artificial lake in the Stanislaus National Forest of Tuolumne County, California, U.S.A., about east of the city of Sonora. It is at an elevation of on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, and l ...

.{{Cite web , last=Victoria , first=Environment Protection Authority , date=2023-12-04 , title=Fine for Laverton concrete company {{! Environment Protection Authority Victoria , url=https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/about-epa/news-media-and-updates/media-releases-and-news/fine-for-concrete-company , access-date=2024-01-11 , website=www.epa.vic.gov.au , language=en

References

Issues

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Environment Environmental issues in Australia