On Wednesday, The Age visited a Somerton warehouse piled high with an estimated 6000 tonnes of waste – much of it from the homes of Adelaide residents. The Somerton warehouse. Credit:Jason South The waste fills the 25,000-square-metre warehouse – bigger than the MCG's playing surface – and was placed there by contractors for SKM over eight weeks from September 2017. The owner of the warehouse, who asked not to be identified, leased the space to SKM in 2017 and received rent for the first year before SKM stopped paying. The Somerton business – which is not involved in the waste industry – has now been left with thousands of bales of waste stacked four to five metres high, and are unsure what to do with it.

Not all of the rubbish piled in the warehouse is from Adelaide, but transport records obtained by The Age show regular shipments hauled from South Australia to Somerton, Brooklyn and sorting centres in Geelong and Laverton. Bales of waste inspected on Wednesday included Adelaide newspapers and South Australian milk containers. Among bales of recyclables in the Somerton warehouse were many newspapers from Adelaide, including this copy of The Advertiser. Credit:Jason South Another company, South Melbourne developer Marwood Construction, has also inherited 10,000 tonnes of recyclable waste that SKM abandoned at its Derrimut warehouse. Much of the rubbish in these warehouses was shipped by transport firm Tasman Logistics. Tasman is owed $3.35 million by SKM Corporate, while 16 other creditors are pursuing owners the Italiano family for an additional $2.2 million.

That firm was this month declared insolvent by the Supreme Court, although SKM’s other companies continue to operate out of Laverton and Coolaroo. Marwood Construction's Derrimut warehouse, also filled with SKM's recyclable materials. Credit:Jason South Tasman’s director Craig Morris has approached the government to ask for assistance removing 700 shipping containers of waste it has been left with by SKM. Tasman is also working with other companies left with thousands of tonnes of recyclable material – put there by Tasman under contract by SKM. In an email sent to the government on Tuesday after it announced a $6.6 million package to help councils, Mr Morris said it was unfair the councils were being funded for their “negligent” behaviour in hiring SKM. “Everyone else who is owed money and is left with the mess gets left to their own devices to survive,” he wrote.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio was made aware that waste was just being dumped in warehouses after a 2017 fire broke out at SKM's Coolaroo recycling plant. “The minister knew in October 2017 that they were putting this stuff into warehouses,” SKM spokesman Rob Spence said. The Age on Wednesday contacted SKM general manager Robert Italiano and his father Joe Italiano, the 76-year-old who founded the family-run firm in 1999. They did not return messages, and Mr Spence said they were not willing to talk to The Age. Loading

Mr Spence said SKM was collecting recyclable materials from South Australia for some time, and before a massive 2017 fire at its Coolaroo warehouse it made sense to do so. Once the company was unable to sort recycling and shop recycling from there, it started stockpiling materials in warehouses such as the Somerton premises. He said the Environment Protection Authority knew about the stockpiles and had approved use of the sites. Danny Childs, an EPA manager, said the agency was aware the Somerton warehouse was leased by SKM, and had been "actively inspecting the site" and working with WorkSafe, the fire brigade and Hume Council to ensure it met required safety standards. Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said Victoria was becoming a “national environmental pariah”, and that Premier Daniel Andrews had been “asleep at the wheel” when it came to the state’s recycling crisis. Due to this “incompetence”, Mr O’Brien said, “tonnes of other state’s waste is being dumped in Victoria”.

Ms D’Ambrosio said the government would work with the receivers of SKM Corporate and any prospective buyers to deal with the stockpiles. “Given what we now know about SKM’s business practices, it’s no surprise there are more warehouses storing materials – and if these materials are from interstate it further demonstrates the extent of this national problem,” she said. She said some of the stockpiled recyclables may need to go to landfill. One of the 30 councils who had contracts with SKM, the City of Ballarat, says its contingency plan to divert waste from landfill will cost $2 million. In letter to the Victorian Opposition, Ballarat mayor Samantha McIntosh said the council had requested “immediate state government support” to deal with the crisis.