Portable toilets to be mandatory when camping at Teewah Beach near Sunshine Coast

BYO dunny or face a fine: That’s the message from authorities wanting to crackdown on dirty deeds taking place at this popular stretch of beach camping sites.

New rules surrounding portable toilets will soon be in place to kerb a ‘bush toileting’ issue at Teewah Beach camp sites.

Following the installation of a new $576,000 portable waste facility at Noosa North Shore, portable toilets will be mandatory for campers at Teewah Beach from October 12.

From that date, the Department of Environment and Science has announced all campers staying in the Teewah Beach camping zones 1 to 7 must bring and use a portable toilet for the duration of their stay.

It will be an offence to camp in the area without the waste equipment, with an on-the-spot penalty of $413 applying for offenders.

It comes after a number of unrelated issues to do with parties, anti-social behaviour, speeding and rubbish concerns along the popular camping stretch.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife assistant director-general Andrew Buckley said the new requirement was the best answer to the issue of toileting at Teewah Beach.

“There is a problem in this area with high levels of bush toileting occurring, particularly during peak times, contaminating the environment and posing an unacceptable health risk to campers and visitors,” Mr Buckley said.

“Constructing permanent toilets in the camping zones we manage at Teewah Beach is not feasible as shifting sands and tidal influences make it impossible to erect any permanent structures.”

Epic Ocean Adventures tour guide Tyron van Santen.

Epic Ocean Adventures Noosa owner Tyron van Santen welcomed the new requirements, especially with the increased usage of the area during Covid-19 restrictions.

Santen, who runs aquatic 4X4 tours from Noosa up to Double Island Point, said he had often come across human waste on his tours.

“I’m in my 11th year of touring up there,” he said.

“I can’t speak on the camping areas but around Double Island Point I can certainly tell you there is a large amount of toilet paper and faeces in the sand dunes there and with the amount of people going up there I think it’s probably a good thing.

“The (Teewah) camping area is quite a distance from any of the current public toilet facilities in the national park and Freshwater picnic area.”

He said it should be common sense when camping over numerous days to have that kind of waste equipment on hand.

“From what I see in the sand dunes with the litter at Double Island Point and Teewah too (it’s a good thing),” he said.

The new portable waste facility incorporates four individual dump points and a specially constructed access road and standing areas and complements similar amenities in the Cooloola Recreation Area at the Freshwater day-use area and on Clarkson Drive in the Rainbow Beach township.

While using portable toilets in the Teewah Beach camping zones is now mandatory, rangers will focus on education rather than compliance over the coming months.