Rubbish dumper still has clean slate

By CASEY NEILL
A SPRINGVALE man has escaped punishment despite City of Greater Dandenong cameras catching him dumping rubbish.
It was the council’s first court case to stem from its portable surveillance cameras.
But Yi Zhou did not receive a conviction at the 18 October Dandenong Magistrates’ Court hearing after pleading guilty to four charges over depositing litter in Springvale on 6 July.
City of Greater Dandenong residential amenity prosecutions co-ordinator Steve Scott said the council had set up portable cameras at the VicTrack-owned laneway between Springvale Road and Newcomen Road because it was prone to littering.
Mr Scott told the court the cameras captured Mr Zhou removing rubbish from his Toyota sedan and dumping it in the laneway’s western end.
The council tracked him down through the car’s registration and from his name and address on documents in the rubbish.
Mr Scott said that, through an interpreter, Mr Zhou told the council he would have removed his name from the material if he’d known he was not allowed to leave it there, “I thought we were allowed to dump rubbish”, and “I saw a lot of rubbish there so I thought it was allowed”.
He also told them he moved to Australia from China in 1999 and there were language barriers involved in his actions.
Mr Zhou, 54, confirmed he made two trips to the laneway to deposit boxes, chair legs, tables and other litter on 6 July.
“I know I’ve made a mistake,” he told the court through an interpreter.
“It will never happen again.”
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell said because of Mr Zhou’s clean record she would dismiss the charges, but ordered him to pay $71.40 in costs by 15 November.
“I hope you now realise how serious a matter it is to dump rubbish wherever you think,” she said.
The council declined to comment on the result.
Litter is an ongoing problem for Greater Dandenong. In August last year it was among nine municipalities to receive a State Government litter prevention officer.
The officer’s role is to patrol rubbish hot-spots and develop and implement targeted programs designed to minimise litter through education.