By Tom Ingleton
Hume council will “name and shame” people who illegally dump rubbish as it ramps up its war on waste.
Illegal dumping is a major issue for the council, costing it over $5 million annually in collection and clean-up fees, according to councillor Naim Kurt.
Cr Kurt raised the issue during the Monday, February 24 council meeting. He said illegal dumping had become a criminal operation, with offenders using fake number plates and disposing rubbish by the tonne under the cover of darkness.
“Illegal dumping costs this council over $5 million a year – money which should be going to roads, parks and services, not cleaning up after people who treat our streets like a rubbish tip,” Cr Kurt said.
All councillors voted in favour of the motion and agreed with Cr Kurt that the issue has become one of the biggest challenges facing Hume residents.
The council is now aiming to take a tougher stance, using platforms such as its social media pages to highlight and expose offenders to the community.
“Where we have footage of them being involved in those operations, we put that footage up on social media, put it up on councillors’ media channels, and name and shame those individuals, particularly when there has been a successful prosecution and they’ve been fined,” Cr Kurt said.
“Illegal dumping remains one of the biggest issues in our community and every day we hear from residents who want better, and they’re right to demand it.”
Cr Ally Watson said she was constantly being contacted over the issue.
“I’m getting sick of getting calls day after day of more dumped rubbish,” she said.
“I’m really pleased that we have a high uptake of ‘Snap Send Solve’. It’s a fantastic way for our community members to report rubbish but that’s not going to solve the problem.”
Cr Sam Misho also called for more action to tackle the “ongoing phenomena”.
“I’m all for fines to people that actually cause illegal dumping and they should be hefty fines.”
