The Environment Protection Authority alleges that the company, which operates a liquid waste facility, did not have a licence to use an 85,000 litre storage tank containing oily waste water and failed to comply with laws when transporting waste.

The authority issued penalty infringement notices after officers attended Worth Recycling on June 16 following a fire on June 9.

The fire was believed to have started when sparks from a welder ignited flammable vapours in an oily waste water storage tank, an authority statement said.

“Our investigations found that Worth Recycling did not have the appropriate environment protection licence for the facility,’’ the statement said.

“All facilities that store over 5000 litres of oily waste water must be licensed. We also found that oily waste water was being transported to the Kurri Kurri facility without the proper documentation.’’

The authority has also issued a prevention notice to ensure that no oily waste water storage occurs at the facility.

The company also received a caution letter.