Ipswich City Council and the State Government have teamed up to take action against littering and illegal dumping. The campaign will particularly focus on rubbish left on the kerbside.
Health, Security and Community Safety Committee Chairperson Cr Sheila Ireland said there had been a spike in kerbside dumping in January, which could be attributed to a “post-Christmas clean-up” by households.
“Property which is not wanted any longer is put out on the footpath, with some in the community assuming council will come by any day of the week and collect it,” she said.
Cr Ireland said council had conducted its biennial kerbside collection between July and September 2017 and nearly 30,000 properties made use of the service. About 2,500 tonnes of rubbish was collected.
But that service had finished and it was now up to residents to dispose of their unwanted items. Placing materials on the side of the road is illegal dumping and can result in a fine of $2,018.
“Placing items on the kerbside for collection is only permitted under an approved program such as the 2017 kerbside collection service provided by council. Placing unwanted items on the kerbside at any other time is considered illegal dumping,” Cr Ireland said.
“Dumping unwanted material on the side of the road is unsightly and potentially dangerous to pedestrians and other road users. Unsecured material can become a hazard to traffic and injure pedestrians.”
Options for managing waste include:
- Take excess waste to your local refuse centre or donate the material to charity.
- Advertise the material as a give-away, however keep the material inside your property.
- Skips can be hired for the disposal of green waste, builders waste and general household/business waste. The cost of the skip hire (per household) could be reduced by neighbours co-hiring a skip.
“Littering and dumping not only makes our city and natural areas look dirty and uncared for, it can also have significant adverse health, safety, financial and environmental impacts,” she said.
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