The Victorian Landfill Register (VLR) includes information about landfills across Victoria, including their locations.
The VLR was created by EPA in 2018. At its first release, the VLR dataset only included information about landfills that could be suitably verified. Read more about verification below. EPA will update its VLR dataset over time.
Locations of landfills currently listed in the VLR show as olive-green or yellow squares or shapes on the Victoria Unearthed map. Shapes may only be visible when you zoom in on the map to a scale of 1:250,000 or less. Olive-green squares or shapes indicate the landfill is operating and yellow squares or shapes indicate the landfill is closed.
When you click on a VLR location on the map (by turning the dataset on and tapping Identify in the top toolbar of the map), you will receive a range of information that may include the type of waste accepted by that landfill and its years of operation.
Click on all the squares within the shape — and the shape itself — to view the available landfill information held about a site.
Landfills can cause contamination, but once a landfill is closed, operators are obliged to rehabilitate and manage their sites. Even when closed, careful management of sites is required. Many rehabilitated landfills are now safe parks and public spaces, enjoyed by the community. Read more on landfill rehabilitation.
Information about past and present landfills is included in Victoria Unearthed as it can help people understand more about contamination and associated cleanup and rehabilitation activities.
For more information on data quality, see Data quality: accuracy and reliability where Data Quality Statements are available for download.
For more information about the VLR, please contact EPA.
Victoria has a range of landfills that accept all different kinds of waste. In the VLR, you will find information about some:
- Municipal solid waste landfills: These contain everything we throw away at home, from food scraps and glass bottles to grass clippings and other yard wastes.
- Solid inert waste landfills: These contain mainly construction and demolition wastes.
- Prescribed industrial waste (hazardous waste) landfills: Contains hazardous by-products including, for example, from the manufacturing of paint and plastics, and hazardous products from hospitals.
- Landfills that accept asbestos.
EPA has a range of information about landfills and hazardous waste management in Victoria:
EPA sought to verify the information included in the VLR at its 2018 release, but you should be aware of the following limitations:
- If EPA could not validate details of a suspected landfill site, this site was not included in the VLR.
- Many landfills are undocumented, such as those on private property.
EPA created the VLR with the best available information and will continue to update the VLR with verified information as it becomes available.
The shape marked as a landfill represents the whole site that was subject to an EPA licence, remedial notice or is recorded as a landfill.
The area where waste was or is deposited at that landfill may only occupy part of the site.
Some landfills will display in Victoria Unearthed as a series of squares plus a shape, each of which has a different type of detailed information, depending on the source of the record and the location information. Click on all of these squares and the shape to see all of the VLR information held about a site.
The VLR brings together information from:
- EPA landfill licences and post closure pollution abatement notices (PCPANs)
- Regional Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plans
- Historical landfill records held by EPA
Landfill operators are obliged to rehabilitate their sites. Find out more via the links below.
Many fully rehabilitated closed landfill sites are used as parks, playgrounds, golf courses, resource recovery centres or other facilities.
EPA: Siting, design, operation and rehabilitation of landfills
Living near a regulated, well-managed landfill may not, of itself, pose an unacceptable risk to human health.
Operators are obliged to fully rehabilitate landfills so that they do not pose an unacceptable risk to human health.
However, historical landfills may not have been subjected to the same controls.
If you have any concerns that you think may be related to potential contamination, you may wish to:
- Get further information via EPA and other sources, such as State Library of Victoria, historical aerial photos, local historical societies, historic land titles, council rates records, Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works plans and the Victorian Heritage Database.
- Speak with an experienced environmental consultant.
- Consult your GP if you have any health concerns.
For more information about landfills, please contact EPA.
All operators of licenced landfill sites across Victoria must undertake a landfill gas risk assessment, put in place an environmental monitoring program verified by an EPA-appointed environmental auditor and have regular environmental audits. Operators are required to implement audit recommendations.
These are just some of the many measures put in place to help protect human health relating to landfills. EPA has a range of extensive information about landfill safety and risk management on its website.
If you have information about potential contamination or a particular address that you know is not accurately represented in the Victorian Landfill Register, please contact EPA.
Page last updated: 28/07/23