Shire Local News

Dumping link to rising fees

RISING tip fees have contributed to a 20 percent increase in the rate of illegal rubbish dumping in Sutherland Shire, the state government has been told.

Sutherland Shire Council said in a submission to a review of the state government’s waste levy that there were 1278 reported waste dumpings in 2005-06.

The number grew to 1563 within four years and reached 1603 last year.

Anecdotal evidence from management of the Lucas Heights landfill facility is that there has been an approximately 33 percent reduction in the number of household trailer drop-offs.

It is thought a portion of this reduction in trailer drop-offs is directly attributable to the increase in tip fees and has resulted in an increase in illegal dumping incidents.

The council said it had to fund the ‘‘substantial’’ cost of investigating and cleaning up illegal dumping.

Greater resources needed to be made available to fund activities such as monitoring, enforcement and prevention, and this could be achieved by allocating funds from the waste levy, the council said.

The group said it would be willing to consider setting up an anti-dumping squad for the region if funding was available.

Source: The Leader

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