Tackling illegal rubbish dumping

Huon Valley Council and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) are working together to tackle the ongoing issue of illegal rubbish dumping in the Huon Valley.

Illegal rubbish dumping is the act of depositing any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept waste.

The most common forms of rubbish found at dump sites include household waste, tyres, appliances, asbestos sheeting and building waste.

This illegal rubbish is often dumped in environmentally sensitive areas like forestry roads, near waterways, and in natural bush close to roadside pull over areas.

More and more frequently, household rubbish is being dumped in Council bins, especially at recreation grounds. This dumping overloads the bins before the scheduled pickup, causing litter to escape into the environment and denying use of the bins to people using recreational areas.

Several resources and strategies are currently being deployed to make the identification and prosecution of offenders of rubbish dumping more likely.

These include:

· Trail cameras positioned near problem rubbish dump areas to gather evidence of illegal rubbish dumping;

· EPA and Council Officers with dedicated time and procedures for investigating rubbish dumps;

· EPA Litter Reporting System (Report Littering | EPA Tasmania) for community members to report seeing someone littering.

· EPA Report Rubbish (Report Rubbish – Create (epa.tas.gov.au)) for community members to report the location of dumped rubbish.

· Zero tolerance approach to individuals identified as dumping rubbish or depositing household rubbish in Council bin. Offenders will automatically be issued with an infringement notice under the Litter Act 2007.

In the past, it has been difficult to identify and prosecute individuals involved with illegal rubbish dumping. However, with these new resources and strategies in place, we can work together to minimise the affect rubbish dumping has on our environment and our Valley.

Use the above-mentioned links to report rubbish dumping offenders and dump locations. Notifications will then be sent to the EPA and the relevant landholder, such as Council, Crown Property Services or Sustainable Timbers Tasmania. Where possible, the landholder will clean up the rubbish to prevent it from further escaping into the environment.

Huon Valley Council offers three Waste Transfer Stations, including Southbridge (located in Huonville), Cygnet and Dover. Southbridge also has a thriving Reuse Shop, where pre-loved items are donated and sold on.

If you have any questions regarding disposing rubbish at one of Council’s waste transfer stations, Council’s website has a detailed list of acceptable waste.