Illegal dumping is the disposal of waste on public or private land without approval. Illegal dumping pollutes land, soil and air, can cause fire hazards and looks bad. Illegal dumping can also cause injury or harm to members of the community and wildlife.
Each year we receive over 1,200 reports of illegal dumping.
Our Illegal Dumping Strategy and Litter Enforcement Strategy 2022 – 2025 (PDF 1.45 MB) outlines how we will tackle illegal dumping in our community.
We have a dedicated illegal dumping team. The team patrol the City daily to enforce and deter against illegal dumping activity. Offenders can be fined or prosecuted for illegal dumping.
Catching offenders can be difficult. If we cannot identify them, we must remove and dispose of dumped goods at a cost to the ratepayer.
Community help is essential to catching and deterring illegal dumping.
Scavenging
Scavenging is when people rummage through recycling bins, skips or kerbside waste. Scavengers steal thousands of dollars in recyclables each year. This makes Council based recycling programs less cost efficient and impacts the rate-payer. To prevent scavengers from taking your recyclables:
- only place your recycling bin out the night before collection
- place unwanted household items out the day before your kerbside clean-up date.
Like illegal dumping, scavenging is taken very seriously and offenders can be fined.
How you can report illegal dumping and scavenging
We encourage residents to report illegal dumping or scavenging activity. If the person is in the act, please help us by taking down the following information (if possible):
- date, time and location of incident
- description of vehicle and licence plate number
- description of person(s) dumping
- what items / materials were being dumped
- your name and phone number (optional)
You can report illegal dumping or scavenging online, or call us on (07) 3412 3412. After hours calls will be redirected to our emergency response team.
With adequate information we can and will pursue prosecution.