Queensland Government hits rogue tyre recycler with environmental protection orders
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The Queensland Government has issued a series of environmental protection orders against a rogue recycling operator whose sites were exposed by the ABC as a dumping ground for hundreds of thousands of old tyres.
Key points:
- Tyremil Group CEO Tony Di Carlo must now safely store estimated 800,000 tyres
- Government sources fear the Brisbane sites could be abandoned, leaving taxpayers with clean-up bill
- ABC understands companies could be shut down if they fail to act on orders
Two of the orders were made against Tony Di Carlo due to his role as CEO of companies that run the sites at Rocklea and Kingston in Brisbane.
Two other orders were issued against companies linked to him and the used tyre sites.
Di Carlo must now safely store the estimated 800,000 tyres at the Tyremil Group sites, while also taking measures to reduce the risk of fire such as building fire breaks.
But government sources fear the sites could be abandoned, leaving taxpayers with an estimated $1.3 million clean-up bill to remove the mountains of tyres.
As revealed by the ABC in July, environmentalists fear it would be catastrophic if either site was to go up in flames, saying it could result in the closure of nearby Archerfield Airport.
"If you talk to firefighters, they describe these kinds of things as giant stockpiles of solid oil, and that's effectively what they would become if we were to see a fire," Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles said.
The ABC understands that if Di Carlo and the companies issued with the orders fail to act, the Rocklea and Kingston operations could be shut down.
Mr Miles said issuing an environmental protection order was a serious step.
"That tool could be used to instruct an individual or company to stop doing something that is harmful to the environment," he said.
The ABC revealed in July that Tyremil Group was controlled by Di Carlo, although his name does not appear on company documents lodged with corporate regulator ASIC.
One Tyremil company — Grindle Services — was put into liquidation owing creditors tens of thousands of dollars.
It also failed to pay a government fine for breaching its conditions of operations.
Di Carlo is also facing charges of threatening a former associate and a former employee, who he accused of speaking to the ABC.
He has been charged with one count of using a carriage service to make a threat to kill, and two charges of making a threat to cause serious harm.
When contacted by the ABC Di Carlo said he had no knowledge of the orders against him.
- Queensland recycler hit with hefty fine for unauthorised transportation of used tyres
- Rogue tyre recycler accused of ripping off small businesses
- Operator of rogue recycling business Tyremil charged over threatening phone calls
- Queensland taskforce ordered to investigate rogue company behind massive Brisbane tyre stockpiles
- Queensland Government 'powerless to act' against rogue company behind huge Brisbane tyre stockpiles
Topics: environment, environmental-technology, recycling-and-waste-management, states-and-territories, government-and-politics, law-crime-and-justice, rocklea-4106, kingston-4114, brisbane-4000
