Council orders Envirostream to clean up operations.

 

A national e-waste business which recycles batteries for Officeworks and PlanetArk could be shut down after regulators revealed the company had been running an unlicensed, high-risk facility in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

 

Envirostream Australia, which also does e-waste recycling for Bunnings, Sustainability Victoria and community group Ceres, has been ordered by the Hume City Council to “cease” and “clean up” its operations at two premises in Campbellfield.

 

The company, which is a subsidiary of ASX-listed company Lithium Australia, is also under investigation by the Environment Protection Authority for operating without a licence and by WorkSafe over alleged violations of dangerous goods regulations.

 

Envirostream’s founder and director Andrew Mackenzie told The Age he was “not aware of the investigations and the company was “in discussions” with the EPA about obtaining a licence.

 

In January 2019, one of the company’s Campbellfield warehouses was destroyed in a large industrial blaze which spread toxic smoke across the northern suburbs and contaminated nearby waterways.

 

After reports from a senior firefighter that the “building was crammed full of batteries and other combustible materials”, the EPA dispatched an investigator to assess the incident and the environmental aftermath.

 

An EPA report obtained by The Age described the Envirostream facility as an “unlicensed premises” that allegedly contained 100 tonnes of batteries and 200-300 tonnes of ink dust from printer cartridges when the fire broke out.