Gerald Lynch
Hume council is looking to get creative as it seeks answers on how to reduce the ‘crisis’ of rubbish dumping within the municipality.
Council previously looked into ways to better educate residents on how to correctly dispose of their rubbish, and now councillor Jim Overend said he is frustrated with residents’ lack of common sense.
“I believe we’re past the point now of education … we’re at a point now where we know residents … know they’re not to dump rubbish,” he said.
“Even residents are going onto social media and naming and shaming people … they’re taking it on themselves to do that.
“We can’t hold residents’ hands and stop them from dumping rubbish, but we need to put heavier enforcement in place. Naming and shaming, heavier fines, we need to make it impossible for people to get away with.”
Cr Jack Medcraft said he has been an advocating for 15 years for rubbish dumpers to be outed as a way of deterring them from continuing to offend.
“We need to make these people accountable,” he said.
“I’d like to see the fines increased substantially, or if you can’t pay the fines, we get you out there to clean up some of the rubbish.”
Council outlined the initiatives it is looking to explore for 2024-25.
Increased surveillance and prosecutions through increased enforcement activity such as increased use of CCTV and former prosecution is one idea being explored.
It is also reviewing the feasibility of a name and shame program where CCTV footage is made publicly available, and it was noted that Victoria Police and Crime Stoppers already conduct similar processes.
Further, they are looking to establish a ‘Dob in a Dumper’ platform, giving fellow residents a space in which they can easily report dumping and other inappropriate behaviour to make it easier for those doing the wrong thing to be identified and prosecuted.
It was previously revealed that Hume council spent more than $5 million removing illegally dumped rubbish in the 2022-23 financial year.
