Fight to deter illegal dumps

STATISTICS from Tasmania’s environmental watchdog have highlighted the extent of illegal dumping and the financial repercussions borne by those found guilty of dumping household rubbish, tyres and other unwanted goods in the bush.

Illegal dumping has become such a problem near Wynyard, in Tasmania’s North-West, the Waratah-Wynyard Council has waived fees at the municipal tip to try to combat it.

In the last financial year, the Environmental Protection Authority received 334 reports of littering across the state.

And recently in the NorthWest, compliance officers undertook a joint operation with Sustainable Timber Tasmania which resulted in five infringement notices totalling $4872 for illegal dumping on Permanent Timber Production Zone land.

Of the offenders, two individuals were fined $336 for discarding household rubbish and another individual was fined $840 for discarding a television.

Two businesses were fined $1680 each for illegally disposing of green waste and barbed wire, respectively.

In 2013, four men were fined $6500 for dumping several car bodies at St Georges Falls. Two years later surveillance by Inland Fisheries Service led to two people being charged for littering at a popular fishing spot. One was fined $770 for dumping household rubbish and the other was fined $154 for discarding takeaway food packaging from the vehicle window.

In February 2017, two people were charged with dumping rubbish in a forestry area on the Tasman Peninsula and in October of that year, a Hobart man was fined $795 for dumping rubbish in the Bay of Fires Conservation Area at Binalong Bay.

In September and November 2018, two separate tyre businesses in Southern Tasmania were fined $3180 and $3260 respectively for the illegal disposal of used tyres on crown land.

Waratah-Wynyard Mayor Robbie Walsh this week expressed frustration over continued illegal dumping of household rubbish despite fees at the tip being waived.

“The outlying areas of Wynyard are becoming a dumping ground. There is no excuse for a mess like this when it all can all be taken to the tip for free,” he said.

The Burnie City Council was forced to install CCTV cameras at 22 dumping hot spots in its municipality in a bid to stamp out illegal dumping and recent reports show the Richmond area is also fighting to stop the problem.

The public is urged to continue to report littering or dumped rubbish via the EPA website at www.epa.tas.gov.au.