People who dump commercial quantities of waste in Whittlesea could be named and shamed as the council ramps up its efforts to tackle its mounting waste problem.
A waste taskforce was formed earlier this year in a bid to prevent the illegal dumping of rubbish.
A report to the March 18 council meeting said that taskforce aims to educate people about the impacts of illegally dumped rubbish and raise awareness of available waste disposal services; works with police, WorkSafe and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to conduct surveillance of dumping hotspots; organises rapid collection teams; and works to offenders.
The report asked that council chief executive Craig Lloyd consider publicising when offenders are caught illegally dumping commercial quantities of waste by publicly disclosing their names, photos, and details of the offending (where legally permissible), through official media and social media channels.
The request was supported by council, with councillors also agreeing to write to local MPs, the treasurer and environment minister request funding from the state government’s Landfill Levy be provided to council to offset expenses associated with the increase in illegally dumped rubbish.
According to the report, Whittlesea residents reported 3242 cases of illegally dumped rubbish between September and March.
Wollert recorded the highest number of incidents at 680, followed by Epping (628), Thomastown (477), Lalor (268), South Morang (250) and Mill Park (236).
The report said that a lack of community knowledge about waste disposal options, a disregard for environmental regulations, avoidance of disposal costs, restricted operating hours of landfill sites and increases in the waste levy were contributing to the rise in illegally dumped rubbish.
The taskforce ran two compliance and enforcement operations targeting Mason Quarter, The Patch, Wollert Rise, Findonview, Stonefields, Lyndarum North, and Arramont estates, responding to 403 incidents of dumped rubbish. It issues 179 notices ordering the rubbish be removed, 58 infringements and removed rubbish from 63 public sites, the report said.
Cr Lawrie Cox said a large part of the issue was caused by people who dumped rubbish they had been paid to remove.
“These are the people we are particularly after,” he said.
