No time to waste

VATS of used cooking oil, broken airconditioners and piles of household rubbish are piled high across Townsville’s secluded bush tracks by flagrant illegal dumpers.

Dave Dudley, a nurse from Rasmussen, became so fed up with the pollution he’s now taken it into his own hands, clearing an estimated six tonnes of rubbish since starting up the “Townsville Illegal Dumping Yobo’s Clean Ups” volunteer group.

His monthly trips out bush has also received the backing of Townsville City Council, with Mayor Jenny Hill confirming they had waived dump fees for Mr Dudley.

More than 330 reports about illegal dumping have been received by council since July last year, and since September residents have been slapped with 21 fines totalling $44,835.

Mr Dudley, acknowledging his clean-up efforts were unorthodox, said he decided to do something about the issue rather than walk past it, hoping to raise public awareness.

“You might drive down a road and see nothing, but it’s hidden in the bush and all that stuff ends up in the waterways,” he said. “It’s a minority of people who are just too lazy (that illegally dump), I don’t think money has anything to do with it, because if they can afford this stuff and they have a car to drive it, they could take it to the dump.”

Mr Dudley has made three trips in six months so far, and said most of what he found was broken down whitegoods, airconditioners stripped of their copper and household garbage including nappies.

His next clean-up effort, open to everyone, will be on February 23.

He also comes across abandoned or burnt-out cars and is working with local businesses to find a way to tow the vehicles out of the bush.

“I’m going to continue to clean up and try and get more people involved,” he said.

He hopes to rope in big business to pay for heavy machinery because there are areas which have “truckloads” of rubbish.

Townsville City Council, with $100,000 of State Government funding, hired two full-time officers last September to crack down on illegal dumping. The State Government yesterday announced it had granted an extra $31,392 to the council to target illegal dumping hot spots by installing signage and conducting increased surveillance.