In an exclusive from The Age, it has been revealed that Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has been aware for two years that recycling company SKM has been storing thousands of tonnes of waste in storages across Melbourne.
SKM Recycling has been declared insolvent earlier this month owing more than $5.5 million to 16 creditors. With knowledge from Ms D’Ambrosio, the company had stored an incredible amount of waste in five warehouses across outer Melbourne.
Ms D’Ambrosio was told two years ago by SKM about the plan to store waste during the beginning of the recycling crisis in October of 2017. During the midst of the crisis, SKM met with either Ms D’Ambrosio or her staff six times, according to the recycling company’s records.
On Thursday, Ms D’Ambrosio defended herself by saying that SKM had advised the government that they expected to clear the stockpiled waste by May 2018.
“At the time there was no evidence to suggest that the company would not achieve this and the expectation was that SKM would manage their temporary storage sites in a safe, responsible manner,”
“Obviously the [sites were] not cleared and [are] another example of what we now know to be SKM’s unreliability,” she said.
The Age also reported earlier this week that SKM had transported thousands of tonnes of recycled waste from Adelaide to Melbourne, storing it in these abandoned warehouses. The company’s solution during the midst of the recycling crisis was to ship the excessive amount of waste to Melbourne where they could store it.
Victoria’s recycling crisis began due to China refusing to accept contaminated recycling waste from Australia. SKM Recycling had contracts to process the recycling from 33 Victorian councils along with 13 South Australian councils. China no longer taking waste marked the beginning of the end for the recycling company.
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Photo: Lily D’Ambrosio By Takver HERE and used under a Creative Commons Attribution. The image has not been modified.
Ryan Long is a third year Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sports Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow him on Twitter @ryanlong1297
