By JESSE GRAHAM
VICROADS will no longer dump leaf-litter and roadside materials at the entrance to Healesville, following a complaint from a Healesville businessman last month.
VicRoads’ Regional Director, Metro South, Aidan McGann, told the Mail that no more materials would be dumped beside the bridge at the entrance to Healesville.
Mr McGann said from recently dumped materials, which came from roadside sweeping and drain cleaning, had been tested for harmful chemicals.
“The material was recently tested and deemed as Category C under EPA guidelines,” he said.
“On the environmental scale, this is just above clean, which is the lowest level of contamination and does not pose a risk to the community.
“In accordance with EPA’s guidelines, we will not be removing the material, or adding to it.”
Mr McGann’s statements follow a report in the Mountain Views Mail on 23 June, that material from roadside sweeping and drain cleaning had been dumped beside the bridge roughly one kilometre east of Maxwell’s Road.
The dumping caught the attention of Healesville businessman, Garry Christie, who runs the watchdog Facebook page, Healesville Matters.
He told the Mail at the time that the kind of material dumped by VicRoads could contain potentially harmful chemicals from road run-off.
Mr Christie noted that the Yarra Ranges Council has to dispose of the materials at designated disposal sites, such as tips.
When told about the VicRoads testing, Mr Christie said it was “reassuring” that no more materials would be dumped, but questioned where the samples were taken from and their reliability.
“My initial, knee-jerk reaction to that is – where did they take the sample from?” he said.
“It is a reassurance, but, even looking at it, I could tell that what was there when we took the photo (for the Mail) it was obvious that was just recently put there.
“If they’ve taken a sample from the day we were there, it’s basically clean-fill – I know for a fact that you walk down near the face of it, where you get down near the river flat’s ground level, and it’s black, ugly-looking stuff.”
But Mr McGann said that 10 samples of the dumped materials were tested, both in recently dumped materials and those dumped in the past, which made up the Category C finding.
He said the testing was undertaken by the Australian Laboratory Services, while VicRoads Technical Consulting collected the samples.
A VicRoads spokesperson said that the material would be levelled with machinery, which will allow it to grass over, and confirmed that no new materials will be dumped there in future.
Any residents aware of illegally dumped rubbish, or who saw anyone illegally dumping rubbish can report it to Yarra Ranges Council on 1300 368 333 or at yarraranges.vic.gov.au.
