By Cam Lucadou-Wells
There are calls for a council crackdown on illegal dumping hotspots across Greater Dandenong.
Trash is illegally dumped by unknown offenders on the nature strip outside shops and townhouses at 32 Stud Road, Dandenong on what seems a daily basis, Cr Lana Formoso says.
At times, she’s pulled over to pick up the overflowing garbage off the busy road.
She is calling for mobile CCTV as well as warning a ‘real estate’ sign at the site warning offenders that they face steep fines.
The council’s ‘proactive dumped rubbish collections’ program is collecting piles from that site each week. But this is simply enabling illegal dumpers, Cr Formoso says.
“We’re telling them that you can dump here.”
Supermarket trolleys and other illegal dumping was prominent on nearby streets, Cr Formoso said. Her councillor colleagues also were reporting similar dumping hotspots across the municipality.
“I don’t understand why people have to do it – you have two free hard-waste collections a year.”
Cr Formoso told a 28 February council meeting that rubbish was being left at Stud Road “almost every second of the day”.
Residents and visitors were “sick” of driving past the rubbish pile at a ‘gateway’ to central Dandenong.
“The moment the rubbish is collected, there is a new pile there again.”
City planning director Jody Bosman said the site had an “unfortunate history in terms of non-compliance”.
“I absolutely share your frustration”.
Keysborough resident Dom Boccari, who has reported a frequent illegal dumping site for soil and building materials, says the council needs a “plan” to tackle the scourge.
Their plan was to “pay a contract company to clean it when it occurs”.
“This is giving the dumpers the green light to keep doing it at the cost of the ratepayers. That does not sit well with us.”
Mr Boccari said the council had promised a sign to deter dumpers at the site, but it had not materialized.
A council officer, in response to Mr Boccari, reported increased dumping across greater Melbourne since the start of the Covid pandemic.
The council’s at-call ‘legal’ hard waste collection bookings was also up by 9 per cent in the past year.
The officer stated that collection staff were regularly deployed to hotspots, with observations and statistics collected.
“Our Local Laws Officers undertake enforcement measure where they can, however for the most part they rely on evidence and the support of witnesses if a prosecution is to be initiated.”
A particular “challenge” were flats and multi-unit sites where residents were “generally trainsient”.
“Council officers are … engaging with property managers gaining their cooperation to deal with this problem.
“These sites represent one of our biggest dumped rubbish challenges, however some progress is being made, albeit not as quickly as we all would like.”
