Elsie Lange
Last year, councils and relevant authorities in Melbourne’s northern suburbs received more than 9500 complaints about dumped rubbish, and more than 6500 reports about overgrown vegetation, according to recent data.
Across Hume, Whittlesea, Nillumbik, Moreland, Darebin and Banyule, residents used the Snap Send Solve app to take a photo of their issue and send it to their council or an authority.
There were 9782 reports of dumped rubbish, 6536 reports of overgrown vegetation, 2279 reports of pavement issues and 1799 reports of graffiti – 20, 396 complaints all together.
Hume councillor Joseph Haweil has been campaigning against illegal dumping for some time, and said there’s a range of free council services that should stop people from disposing waste in their neighbourhoods.
He described dumping as an epidemic in the northern suburbs and said the behaviour was “arrogant and selfish”.
“What we rely on is the community reporting things through,” Cr Haweil said.
“So it’s a council responsibility for us to pick it up and clean up the area, but also with evidence to help us undertake investigations.”
Councillor Jack Medcraft labelled dumping in Hume as “unAustralian”.
“If you see someone dumping, please don’t be afraid to dob them in,” Cr Medcraft said.
“It’s money coming out of your pocket, ratepayers are paying for this.”
In November last year, Hume council sustainable infrastructure and services director Peter Waite told Star Weekly there were 19,188 registered hard rubbish collections amounting to 2872 cubic metres of hard rubbish in the 2020-2021 financial year.
Hume’s 2021-2022 budget says over 12 months from the new financial year, the council would provide 14,000 hard waste collections, undertake 4200 kilometres of roadside litter cleaning and remove more than 40,000 square metres of graffiti.
According to Hume’s 2021-2025 council plan, it hopes to finalise a 10-year waste strategy, and “implement initiatives to reduce the incident of illegal dumped waste in Hume City”.
Cr Haweil said councils should have no mercy and find people who are illegally dumping to hold them accountable.
“Our community is not your tip,” Cr Haweil said.
