Winemaker fined $35k over toxic waste

An Australian winemaker has been fined AUS$35,000 (£17,000) after he was found guilty of dumping toxic chemicals down a drain.

Rex Nunzio D’Aquino, of the D’Aquino Group, pleaded guilty to a charge of polluting waters, as reported by Central Western Daily, after he instructed an employee to empty 21 1,000-litre drums into a drain.

The drums contained remnants of chlorpyrifos – a pesticide used on cotton crops – which is harmful to wildlife.
While the Environmental Protection Authority prosecutor Daniel Zanello said the offence was at the lower level of seriousness, soil samples taken from the drain were found to contain 1,000 times the allowed chemical threshold.

D’Aquino is reported to have bought the drums from an auction with the intention of having them cleaned and used as transport vessels for alcohol, however as their odour could not be removed they were left outside.

Later, D’Aquino instructed staff to empty them into the drain believing that they contained rainwater, despite one employee noticing a green-yellow tinge and suggesting the contents be buried instead. In a letter to the court D’Aquino called the incident a “costly mistake, which will not be repeated”.

D’Aquino was fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $20,000 in professional costs.