By Oscar Parry
Melton council is escalating its war on illegally dumped waste, kicking off a campaign and calling for joint state advocacy with other councils.
According to council, it has spent over $3 million this financial year on cleaning up dumped rubbish in the municipality, and over the past four years, the amount of rubbish dumped on roadsides has doubled to about 6000 tonnes – or 200 large garbage trucks.
Melton mayor Steve Abboushi said it’s frustrating to be spending ratepayer money on cleaning up rubbish when it could have better been spent on fixing roads, building community facilities, and delivering services.
“A lot of items we see that have been dumped could have been taken to the new recycling centre at our Melton Recycling Facility and dropped off for free. Our disposal fees are lower than other areas across Melbourne’s west, and we have a new resale shop to donate items that can be reused – there are really no excuses,” Cr Abboushi said.
Cr Abboushi said only a quarter of Melton residents are using their waste entitlements and is encouraging everyone to take advantage of this year’s allocation before the end of the financial year.
The council’s war on illegal dumping was also brought to a Municipal Association of Victoria state council meeting, with a call for joint advocacy towards preventing illegal dumping receiving unanimous support from all 79 councils.
The motion called for the development of a state-wide ‘Illegal Rubbish Dumping Strategic Plan’ and preventative education campaign, release of funding from the Sustainability Fund that is collected from the waste levy to support illegal dumping management, and additional funding to the EPA to increase resources for the enforcement of illegal rubbish dumping.
“We are doing as much as we can as a council to address this issue, but we simply can’t keep up. We know this problem is occurring in other areas across Victoria too, so we are calling for more support from the Victorian Government to tackle this issue,” Cr Abboushi said.
Council said it is escalating its surveillance of rubbish dumping with more proactive patrols and cameras in known hot spots and that fines range from $395-$1976 for individuals and $1976-$9880 for businesses.
