Licence conditions

Belington Pty Ltd, owner of Old Red Brick Co, has a general environmental duty under section 25 of the EP Act to take all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise dust from its operations. This does not mean there can be no dust from its operations. As with all operators, it must have dust management measures in place so dust does not leave the site and cause environmental harm.

Section 25 states:

A person must not undertake an activity that pollutes, or might pollute, the environment unless the person takes all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise any resulting environmental harm.

This means that the company must do what is reasonable and practicable to prevent or minimise any harm to the environment (or human health).

Failure to comply with the general environmental duty does not in itself constitute an offence, but compliance with the duty may be enforced through issuing an appropriate order or varying conditions of an environmental authorisation.

The key condition in Belington’s licence relating to the control of dust emissions is:

In addition, activity causing dust may constitute environmental nuisance (an adverse amenity impact on an area) and is an offence under section 82 of the EP Act.