Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Illegal Dumping at Scenic Hill
Thursday October 30, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Griffith City Council has begun a comprehensive long-term strategy to crack down on illegal dumping activities occurring throughout the region, coinciding with steeper fines recently implemented by the NSW State Government of $4,000 for individual and $8,000 for corporate offenders.
Council’s campaign to target illegal dumping activities in the Griffith region is an ongoing effort that is part of a wider environmental protection strategy. The campaign is initially targeting Scenic Hill, one of Griffith’s famous landmarks and a well-known area for illegal dumping.
More than 45 sites at Scenic Hill were located as habitual dumping grounds through the use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) and mapped using a Global Information System (GIS). To date, nearly 8 tons of illegal waste have been removed and transferred to the Tharbogang Waste Management Centre (WMC).
Surveillance cameras and newly created illegal dumping signs (clearly stating the government’s penalty notice amounts) have been installed at various road and fire trail entrances at Scenic Hill. The cameras have proven effective as several residents have been detected dumping waste illegally and are currently under investigation by Council.
“Like many councils in NSW, we have been incurring significant costs from illegal dumping and increased pressures to minimise and prevent the health risks these activities pose to our community,” said Griffith City Mayor John Dal Broi. “We hope our campaign, combined with the increased NSW government penalty notice amounts, will deter people from illegally dumping waste so we can keep our residents and environment safe and our landmarks clean in the years to come,” Mayor Dal Broi added.
Illegal dumping is defined as the disposal of waste materials on private or public land where no planning approval or environment protection licence has been granted for the activity. Illegal dumping includes the disposal of household waste, construction and demolition waste (possibly containing asbestos), and commercial and industrial waste.
The NSW Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and Griffith City Council both have regulatory responsibilities related to illegal dumping under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act). The following table of Penalty Notice Offences and Amounts (including on-the-spot fines) are being actively enforced by Council’s Compliance Officers.
|
Section |
Offence |
Fines now Issued by Griffith City Council |
|
|
POEO Act |
Individual |
Corporation |
|
|
s. 91 |
Failure to comply with clean-up notice by occupiers or polluters |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
|
s. 120 |
Prohibition of pollution of waters |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
|
s. 142A |
Pollution of Land |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
|
s. 143 |
Unlawful transporting or depositing of waste (asbestos or hazardous waste) |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
|
s. 143 |
Unlawful transporting or depositing of waste |
$2,000 |
$4,000 |
If you have questions about the campaign or information related to illegal dumping in our community, please contact the Environment, Health and Sustainability Team at Griffith City Council on (02) 6962 8100. For more information about the EPA, please visit http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/. You can also visit http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/.
