EPA Victoria Revokes Barro Group’s Operating Licence, Permanently Closing Kealba’s Sunshine Landfill

EPA Victoria Revokes Barro Group’s Operating Licence at Sunshine Landfill Kealba: What the Permanent Closure Means for Waste Operators, Developers, and Contaminated Land Practitioners

Overview of the Sunshine Landfill Kealba Licence Revocation

On 27 July 2023, EPA Victoria exercised its most powerful enforcement tool, permanently revoking the operating licence of Barro Group for the Sunshine Landfill located in Kealba, in Melbourne’s north-west. The decision brings to a close one of Victoria’s most protracted landfill crises, which began in late 2019 when underground combustion events, commonly referred to as “hotspots,” broke out beneath the waste mass, generating persistent toxic smoke, elevated landfill gas emissions, and highly offensive odours that directly affected surrounding residential communities. The revocation represents a landmark moment in Victorian waste regulation and signals a clear escalation in how EPA Victoria is prepared to use the enforcement provisions of the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic).

The regulatory process leading to revocation followed a formal Notice of Intention to Suspend the licence, which EPA Victoria issued in late 2022. Under the Act’s framework, the operator was provided an opportunity to respond and demonstrate it could effectively manage the ongoing risks the site posed to community health and the environment. Barro Group did not respond to the notice, effectively conceding its right to continue operations. This non-response removed any regulatory pathway for remediation-in-place and left EPA Victoria with no viable basis to maintain an active operating licence. The permanent closure is not, however, the end of Barro Group’s legal obligations. A new Environmental Action Notice has been issued compelling the operator to fund and execute a multi-year remediation programme targeting the remaining subsurface hotspot, landfill gas management, and leachate containment.

For environmental consultants, contaminated land practitioners, waste management professionals, and property lawyers operating across Australia, this decision carries implications well beyond Victoria’s borders. It reframes the conversation around post-closure liability, buffer zone adequacy, and the enforceability of the General Environmental Duty as a live, consequential legal obligation rather than a background compliance principle. Developers and lenders with exposure to legacy waste sites or urban-interface land need to understand how this precedent reshapes risk allocation and due diligence requirements.

Key details of the Kealba Sunshine Landfill enforcement action

The Sunshine Landfill at Kealba is situated in a residential corridor in Melbourne’s north-west, a location that became central to EPA Victoria’s decision-making. Underground hotspot events at municipal solid waste landfills occur when localised anaerobic conditions shift to partial aerobic combustion within the waste mass, typically driven by air infiltration through the landfill cap or perimeter. These events generate elevated temperatures within the waste body, produce toxic combustion byproducts including carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, and complex volatile organic compounds, and can persist for years without targeted intervention. The Kealba hotspots first emerged in late 2019 and, despite remediation attempts over more than three years, at least one significant hotspot remained active at the time of licence revocation in July 2023.

The enforcement pathway used by EPA Victoria is grounded in the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic), which fundamentally restructured Victoria’s environmental protection framework when it came into full effect in July 2021. The General Environmental Duty, established under Part 2 of the Act, requires all persons whose activities may give rise to risks of harm to human health or the environment to understand those risks and take reasonably practicable steps to eliminate or reduce them. This is not a passive obligation. The Act empowers the EPA to issue Environmental Action Notices, impose conditions, suspend licences, and, as demonstrated in the Kealba case, permanently revoke operating licences where a duty holder fails to meet the standard. The late 2022 Notice of Intention to Suspend triggered a formal response period, and Barro Group’s failure to engage with that process left EPA Victoria with grounds to proceed directly to revocation.

The post-closure Environmental Action Notice now in force is technically the most complex dimension of this case. Extinguishing deep subterranean landfill fires requires a combination of targeted gas extraction to reduce oxygen availability within the waste mass, temperature monitoring arrays to map the thermal extent of combustion zones, engineered cap works to limit air ingress, and in some cases direct injection of inert materials or water into the hotspot zone. Managing concurrent leachate risks during this process is critical, as elevated temperatures accelerate leachate generation and can mobilise contaminants toward site boundaries. EPA Victoria has indicated that full remediation is expected to take at least five years, meaning Barro Group’s financial and operational liability extends well into the 2020s. This timeline is consistent with international experience managing similar subterranean combustion events at closed municipal waste facilities.

EPA Victoria explicitly identified the landfill’s proximity to residential areas as a material factor in its regulatory decision-making. This is significant for planning and development professionals because it establishes a clear regulatory signal: buffer zone adequacy between waste facilities and sensitive receptors is not merely a planning matter but a direct input into licence sustainability and enforcement risk. The Kealba site’s urban interface context meant that emissions, odours, and health risks were directly experienced by residents in surrounding streets, making the community impact impossible to discount in any regulatory assessment.

References and related sources

• Primary source: www.epa.vic.gov.au
• epa.vic.gov.au
• insidewaste.com.au
• epa.vic.gov.au
• insidewaste.com.au
• EPA Victoria

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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.

Published: 28 Jul 2026

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