{"id":71698,"date":"2026-08-14T04:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71698\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T04:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:15:22","slug":"epa-alleges-skip-bin-operator-dumped-320-tonnes-of-rubbish-near-clarence-valley-waterway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71698\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA alleges skip-bin operator dumped 320 tonnes of rubbish near Clarence Valley waterway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A skip-bin business owner has been ordered to remove more than 320 tonnes of rubbish it allegedly illegally dumped near a &#8220;sensitive waterway&#8221; in northern New South Wales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Officers from the state&#8217;s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and NSW Police searched a property at Stockyard Creek, north of Grafton, in May as part of an investigation into pollution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The EPA said in a statement that laboratory analysis of samples taken from the site showed asbestos and lead contamination in the refuse piles, which also included construction waste, synthetic turf, scrap metal and furniture.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Piles of rubbish dumped on grass.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d64ba06d8f4204d68efe5fea0e1c0c19.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The EPA has issued a clean-up notice. (Supplied: NSW EPA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">It said drone images revealed contaminated waste had allegedly been stockpiled at the site since 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Area of &#8216;high ecological value&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The EPA issued a clean-up notice to Gardners Yamba Skip Bin Hire, which has until November 2 to comply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;This behaviour shows a complete disregard for the environment and the Clarence Valley community,&#8221; an EPA spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The land is on a tributary of the Clarence River which is used for agriculture, swimming and fishing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;[It is] an area of high ecological value, and dumping waste so close to a sensitive waterway is unacceptable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The spokesperson said customers had paid the skip-bin company to responsibly dispose of their waste in a facility legally authorised to receive it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;People hire skip-bin companies expecting their waste will be taken to the right place \u2014 not discarded on private land to avoid disposal costs,&#8221; the EPA said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aerial photo showing construction material dumped in bushland.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c4a7883b471203b5b11f998fac402046.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Construction waste was amongst the rubbish the EPA discovered. (Supplied: NSW EPA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The landowner has been ordered to provide receipts from a lawful receiver for each load of waste taken from the premises and photographs of every stockpile location once the clean-up is complete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The ABC contacted Gardners Yamba Skip Bin Hire. The proprietor declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A skip-bin business owner has been ordered to remove more than 320 tonnes of rubbish it allegedly illegally&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12400,22,21,99841,99840,24806,32979],"class_list":["post-71698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-asbestos","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-gardners-yamba-skip-bin-hire","tag-grafton","tag-illegal-dumping","tag-nsw-environment-protection-authority"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}