Suspected toxic waste dumper linked to explosive gas cylinders ditched on council land

12 hours ago 5

A man accused of running Victoria’s biggest illegal toxic waste dumping operation – which sparked a massive industrial blaze and a clean-up costing tens of millions of dollars – is under investigation over new alleged environmental crimes.

Graham Leslie White has been linked to truck trailers filled with potentially explosive asbestos-lined acetylene tanks that were abandoned on council-owned property on the outskirts of Melbourne in March.

Graham White at the site of one of the illicit chemical dumps in Epping in 2018.

The illicit dumping operation allegedly happened under the nose of the Environment Protection Authority, which had been monitoring the waste while it had been illegally stored on a nearby farm but failed to prevent it being dumped on public land.

Moorabool Shire Council is now facing a $500,000 clean-up bill.

The find comes nearly seven years after White’s allegedly illicit waste dumping operation sparked an industrial fire in West Footscray in 2018. He has also been linked to more than a dozen hazardous chemical stockpiles in suburban warehouses and dozens of underground pits filled with industrial waste on a bush property near the South Australian border.

In the latest incident two truck trailers were abandoned on a sliver of council land in Merrimu, about an hour northwest of Melbourne. They hold about 1000 expired acetylene gas tanks that are suspected to still contain acetone and asbestos.

An email from the EPA to the council, which has been tendered in a legal fight over the clean-up, said the dumpsite could be at “risk of fire and/or explosion”.

“[Depleted acetylene] is extremely flammable, and its combustion produces one of the hottest flame temperatures for fuel gases. If a car were to collide with these trailers, it would have the potential to cause serious harm.

“The secondary risk is public exposure – given the current containment of the cylinder within the trailers this risk is presently low. However, if the trailers are interfered with or otherwise become insecure, or if the cylinders are illegally or improperly removed from the trailers, risk of harm to community safety from exposure is potentially significant,” EPA acting director of regional operations Martha-Rose Loughnane wrote on March 31.

Trucks filled with acetylene tanks allegedly abandoned in Merrimu.

“EPA is actively pursuing the alleged offender … Nonetheless, EPA considers it unlikely that the alleged offender has the necessary means to achieve a timely and effective clean-up of the DA cylinders.”

The EPA has declined to name the person who is under investigation.

Three sources familiar with the investigation but not authorised to speak publicly say the waste is linked to White, who is charged over the West Footscray fire, warehouse waste stockpiles and the subterranean dump near Kaniva, close to the South Australian border. He has pleaded not guilty.

The registration of one of the abandoned trucks was also in the name of a company run by White in 2018, according to records obtained by The Age.

White once held an exclusive contract with chemical giant BOC to “recycle” used acetylene tanks, but more than 50,000 were allegedly found buried on the outback property from 2011 to 2018. Potentially thousands of other tanks were never found or were destroyed in the 2018 West Footscray blaze.

At Merrimu, aerial imagery shows at least 22 containers and trailers were stored on farm property beginning in April 2022. Over a two-year period, most disappeared after being moved to an unknown location. Then, in March 2025, the last two trailers were taken from the farm and parked on council land about 500 metres down the road.

The dumped waste has sparked a legal fight between the local council and the EPA, which has issued the Moorabool Shire Council with a clean-up order. A bid to have the order stayed in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last week failed.

An affidavit from shire chief executive Derek Madden describes claims the EPA had known about the waste on the farm property for two years after receiving information and complaints from a local landowner.

“The son (of the landowner) claimed he holds evidence … he is willing to provide evidence concerning the movement of the material and expressed frustration with the EPA’s handling of the matter. He alleged that the EPA had been dealing with him and his parents for nearly two years regarding the waste issue.

“He also stated the family was told not to speak to the media by staff within the EPA as it would ‘make things worse’.”

An EPA spokesman said the agency was “aware of waste stored on trailers at an address in Merrimu” and that waste that presents a danger “must be removed as quickly as possible and according to the law”.

“We had regulated the party alleged to be in control of that waste, as we are required to. Clearly, the waste should not have been moved to council land. Investigations as to who moved it are ongoing, and because of those investigations, as well as live legal activity, we are unable to comment further.”

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