EPA fines: Farmers must register silage tyres
Farmers will no longer need EPA licences when using 5000 or more tyres to weigh down silage — the tyres must be registered instead.
Dairy farmers must register all tyres used to weigh down silage on their properties by July 1 next year, under regulations being drafted by the Environment Protection Authority.
The registration requirement is part of a compromise deal negotiated by the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria and Dairy Australia, to avoid farmers having to spend $15,000 or more to gain an EPA license when using 5000 or more waste tyres on their properties.
The compromise deal took two years to negotiate and was triggered by a case in which the EPA ordered a Gippsland dairy farming family to remove every one of the 6800 tyres they used on their property to hold down silage stack covers or face a $396,000 fine.
The Whittaker family’s treatment led to a public outcry, which forced the EPA to the negotiating table.
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Environment followed up by undertaking a survey of 122 farmers to understand the extent of their silage usage, which found:
69 per cent used less than 2500 tyres
6 per cent used 2500 - 5000 tyres
12 percent used 5000 - 12,500
5 per cent used 12,500 - 25,000
8 per cent using 25,000 or more
The fact that 25 per cent of surveyed farmers used more than the licenced threshold of 5000 tyres led the government to develop a range of alternatives that were then subject to a regulatory impact statement, which recommended the move to a simple registration process.
Victoria’s Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio this week finally issued a notice recommending regulations be made to declare “using five cubic metres or more of waste tyres as weights during silage production, including storing waste tyres for that purpose” is a “prescribed permission activity” that must be registered from July 1, 2023.
The minister’s ruling means all dairy farmers who use more than about 60 tyres must register the number of tyres they use on the property and their location.
Registration will be free through an online process, which the EPA is yet to establish.
The EPA is also developing guidance notes in partnership with the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria and Dairy Australia on how silage tyres are stored, including buffer distances from buildings, to minimise fire risks.
UDV president Mark Billing said moving to registration was a good outcome.
“UDV and DA have been negotiating from more than 12 months to get a balanced situation,” Mr Billing said.
“While the EPA requires registration, we’ve been able to wind back other requirements.”
He said avoiding licensing was invaluable to dairy farmers, especially those in the state’s north, who were cutting and carting and storing large quantities of silage.