It is a towering mound of garbage that everybody wants gone.

Key points: A Geelong recycling centre operator who failed to address the site's catastrophic fire risk has had his three-month jail sentence overturned

A Geelong recycling centre operator who failed to address the site's catastrophic fire risk has had his three-month jail sentence overturned David McAuliffe is now bankrupt and his company is in liquidation

David McAuliffe is now bankrupt and his company is in liquidation The State Government will have to fund the $100 million clean-up

But for the past six years, the Geelong council and local residents have been fighting, and failing, to get a massive waste stockpile cleaned up.

Despite multiple tribunal hearings and court proceedings the dump continued to grow, forming a dangerous eyesore in one of the state's highest-risk grassfire areas.

Residents from the nearby town of Lara, less than two kilometres away, said the stockpile of building and commercial waste should never had been allowed to get so big.

"I'm very angry about it because it's just been duck-shoved around," resident Lionel McWilliam said.

"We don't want it. We want it away, we want it gone."

Former operator avoids jail

The site's former operator, David McAuliffe, had his three-month jail term overturned on appeal on Thursday.

David McAuliffe walks from Geelong County Court after his successful appeal. ( ABC News )

He pleaded guilty to nine breaches of a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal order, after he failed to maintain fire safety equipment at the site.

The court heard the CFA deemed the 320,000 cubic metres of rubbish a "catastrophic fire risk" and emergency evacuation plans were in place — including at the nearby Geelong Grammar School — in case the stockpile caught fire.

Prosecutor Justin Foster said McAuliffe "put his own finances ahead of the safety of the community".

Defence barrister Marion Isobel said her client had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, and any time in prison would have an adverse impact on his health.

She said when he was ordered to stop accepting more waste at the site, his income ceased and he could no longer afford to hire the bulldozer, excavator and water truck required by the VCAT order.

He abandoned the site when his company C&D Recycling went into liquidation.

He has since been declared bankrupt.

McAuliffe was given an 18-month community corrections order and a $15,000 fine.

Who will pay for the clean-up?

After C&D Recycling went into liquidation, and McAuliffe declared bankruptcy, the owners of the land TASCO took over the site's management before they too were placed into liquidation.

The State Government was then left with no choice but to stump up $30 million to get the ball rolling on a clean-up and ensure that measures including 24-hour security were in place to reduce the fire risk.

While the final clean-up cost will be determined by a government procurement process, it is expected to be around $100 million and take several years.

Lara residents, including Lionel McWilliam (centre), are angry the site still hasn't been cleaned up. ( ABC News: Nicole Mills )

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) South West regional manager Carolyn Francis said the EPA would "rigorously pursue" the previous site occupiers, owners, company directors and any other relevant parties to recover the costs of the fire prevention measures and clean-up.

"Waste materials will be recycled where possible, with some of the waste taken to landfill," she said.

After the clean-up the land will likely be sold to recover costs.

How did it get to this point?

City of Greater Geelong councillor Anthony Aitken said while council issued the initial permit for a small recycling facility at the site in 2013, it quickly became apparent that McAuliffe was not meeting his obligations.

"There was no recycling going on at the site, it was stockpiling," Cr Aitken said.

In 2016 the council applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to have the permit revoked.

But instead, VCAT ordered a permanent planning permit be issued and attempted to force McAuliffe to comply with the conditions.

Cr Aitken said there was always a fear McAuliffe would walk away if the requirements were too onerous.

"The issue got so big for everybody that the fear was that if there was very strict regulations placed on it, that it wouldn't be able to be addressed and resolved and that's exactly what did happen," he said.

"The operator walked away from the site and we're now left with what's estimated to be a $100 million clean-up."

Asbestos may be present in waste

Nobody knows what is actually in the waste dump, only that it is predominantly made up of construction and demolition waste.

EPA airborne monitoring detected low levels of asbestos which did not exceed "exposure standards" but warned that asbestos may be present among the waste.

For resident Scott Cattlin, whose father died from mesothelioma, the possibility of asbestos at the site was a huge concern.

"If I look out the front bedroom window, I can see this mound of whatever it is from my bedroom window and it's just not fair," he said.

"We are always vacuuming the house up, trying to clean the dust out of the house. You get up in the morning and there's dust all over the car.

"It's a real worry."

It is a fear shared by resident Margot Campbell.

"It's appalling. It's a danger to the community," she said.

"What if there's a fire? The whole community will be in danger."

What is being done to stop it happening in future?

Ms Francis said from July 2020, the EPA would be operating under a new Environment Protection Act with stronger powers and tougher penalties.

"In an Australian first, the Act applies a general preventative environmental duty that is criminally enforceable," she said.

"The duty allows EPA to take action against individuals and businesses who have not taken reasonable steps to eliminate or reduce risks to public and environmental health before pollution occurs."

For residents in Lara, it is little comfort as they are left to hope the Broderick Road site does not become a repeat of the July 2017 blaze at a recycling facility in the Melbourne suburb of Coolaroo, which burned for several days and led to the evacuation of more than 100 homes.

It is now a race against time to at least start the clean-up ahead of the next fire season.