Tara Murray
Western suburb residents are calling for a state Waste and Resource Recovery Hub in Brooklyn to be relocated following a second blaze at the precinct in a month.
The most recent fire was at Sims Metal on August 21. Fire Rescue Victoria said crews identified a fire in a hopper and piles of recycling products. It took 29 firefighters about an hour to bring the blaze under control.
It followed a fire at Cleanaway on August 1.
The Environment Protection Authority is currently investigating the Sims Metal fire.
An EPA spokesperson said the site was already subject to two notices requiring the operator to improve its processes and procedures.
A resident, who asked not to be named, said there had been issues at Sims for a number of years.
She has lodged many complaints with the EPA and Brimbank council, including after the August 21 fire.
“It was reminiscent of a fire there in 2015 which was pretty big,” the resident said.
“We’re all too familiar with it.
“There’s been not only fires there, but explosions on the site and the noise emissions in recent times especially during lockdown has been really bad.”
The resident said she would like to see the business moved away from the area, due to the impact on residents.
Brooklyn Residents Action Group’s Bruce Light went one step further, calling for the entire recovery hub to be relocated.
“We have a human right that we should have clean air,” he said.
“The dust in the area is consistently above the world health standards.
“We need serious consideration of the adverse effect it is having on the community.”
Brimbank council city development director Kelvin Walsh said council has little control over the Sims site due to established existing use rights.
He said the council continued to work to make the area safer for nearby residents.
“The practices of some of the operators of these facilities continue to have significant amenity impacts on the surrounding communities,” he said.
“In February 2016 council revised the strategy and introduced changes to some provisions within the Brimbank Planning Scheme which seek to improve the amenity and appearance of the area and protect surrounding residents and businesses from adverse visual, noise, odour or dust impacts.”
