Locals fume as Torquay beaches turn into dumping grounds on Christmas Day

Surf Coast residents have voiced their frustration after large piles of rubbish, including people’s household garbage, were dumped at Torquay’s beaches on Christmas Day.

Overflowing rubbish at public bins in Torquay on Christmas Day. Picture: Torquay Rubbish Rangers/Facebook

Large piles of rubbish, including people’s household garbage, were dumped at Torquay’s beaches on Christmas Day.

Residents of the Surf Coast community have voiced their frustration as public bins at some of the town’s most popular beaches were overwhelmed with waste.

Between Fishermans Beach and the roundabout on The Esplanade and Bell St, at least 40 full bin bags were left on the ground.

Eight of the red-lidded bins along the footpath were overflowing, with tissues and cans littering the surrounding area.

Other debris included a blow-up mattress, the cardboard box from a new TV, wrapping paper, dirty nappies, McDonald’s containers, pool inflatables and pizza boxes.

One longtime local said the mess was “really disappointing”.

“I understand there are large crowds and the bins at the beach do fill up quickly, but people could be a lot more respectful and careful about how they dispose of their rubbish,” he said.

“A lot of this stuff doesn’t look like regular beach waste either, there were boxes and wrapping from Christmas presents and other stuff that clearly came from people’s homes.

“And then you add all the loose litter and the windy conditions along the coast and it just means stuff goes everywhere, including into the water.”

Surf Coast residents have voiced their frustration as public bins in Torquay were overwhelmed with waste on Christmas Day. Picture: Torquay Rubbish Rangers/Facebook

Many of the public areas have signs telling people to take their waste with them if the bins are full.

The mess was cleaned up by volunteer group Torquay Rubbish Rangers, members of which took to Facebook to show the extent of the dumping.

The group was founded by Dean Walton, who moved to the area during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

He spent two hours of his Christmas “getting the worst” of the litter off the foreshore before running out of light.

Mr Walton returned with others to remove the rest of the rubbish on Thursday morning.

In a statement released on Monday, the Surf Coast Shire council asked residents to refrain from using public bins to dump their Christmas waste.

However, due to the extreme fire danger rating on Thursday, kerbside and public litter bin collections were rescheduled and completed between 4am and 10am.

Surf Coast Shire council placemaking and environment general manager Chris Pike said collections finished at 10am for the safety of staff and contractors.

“Any bins that have not been collected will be collected on Friday 27 December,” Mr Pike said.

He advised residents to leave their bins at the kerbside until they were collected.

“High-use council-managed public litter bins will be emptied twice a day throughout the summer school holidays and the first two weeks of the new school year,” Mr Pike added.

He said the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA) was responsible for collection of public litter bins along the foreshore area within the Surf Coast Shire.

GORCAPA was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Locals fume as Torquay beaches turn into dumping grounds on Christmas Day