New Mayor sets his sights on cleaning up Frankston City

That’s why, as I begin my second term as Mayor, one of my initial focus areas will be addressing the cleanliness issues that are staining Frankston City’s image.

Our City is better than abandoned trollies, dog waste on footpaths and in parks, dumped rubbish and overflowing beach litter bins. It’s time to clean up.

We’ve installed 31 additional temporary bins along the foreshore between Frankston and Seaford and doubled the frequency of our beach litter bin collection.

The trolley collections which were paused due to COVID have resumed and plans are in place to increase collections in the lead up to Christmas.

We’re also working on a campaign encouraging people to pick up after their dogs, which will include signage, street decals, bin stickers and partnering with schools to produce creative and engaging message-driven artwork.

I believe there’s more we can do as a Council to combat these problems and similar ones — but we need our residents to get on board and work alongside us. 

If you’re heading out for a walk, take bags along so you can clean up after your dog, or use the ones supplied at many of our off leash areas. Your neighbours, friends and children don’t deserve to step in or ride through mess left behind by dogs. Equally, our beaches and waterways should not have to cop pollution due to owners failing to act responsibly.

Likewise, if you’re leaving one of our award-winning beaches, be sure to put your rubbish in the bin. If the bin is full, there’s guaranteed to be another just a short distance away. Even better, take your rubbish home with you and put it in your household recycling or waste bin for kerbside collection.

Remember, you can use the free Trolley Tracker and Snap Send Solve apps to report abandoned trolleys and other local issues, such as dumped rubbish. It’s one of the fastest and easiest ways to notify local authorities of problems you feel need addressing.

Our website has a range of fantastic resources to help reduce your waste, including and A to Z disposal directory, and you can once again take your items to the Frankston Regional Recycling and Recovery Centre which is open seven days a week. The centre accepts green and hard waste, along with many recyclables which you can drop off free or charge.

Take advantage of these great resources because although a little carelessness might seem harmless, the rubbish and trollies blowing around our streets really detract from the appeal of our City.

Leaving your waste behind is unhygienic, bad for the environment and impacts the economy because it deters tourists from visiting.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just the tourist dollar that is affected. Last financial year, the dumped rubbish clean-up bill cost ratepayers more than $56,000, not including officer time spent removing illegally dumped rubbish from parks and gardens.

As residents, we know there are wonderful things happening inside Frankston City and the way it looks on the outside should reflect that. It’s time to show our pride and work together to clean up our streets, parks, beaches and other open spaces.

I hope you will work with us to make our home a place more people want to live and visit, and a place we can all be proud of.