Onkaparinga Council spends nearly $1m to clean up illegally dumped rubbish following thousands of reports

A council in Adelaide’s south has spent a shocking amount of ratepayer cash to clean up illegally dumped rubbish.

Onkaparinga Council has spent nearly $1m over the past three years to clean up illegally dumped rubbish, as reports jump this financial year.

The council has received more than 4100 reports of illegally dumped rubbish during the first nine months of this financial year.

Some reports were duplicates, it said, but in that time frame, it has collected and disposed of about 265.55 tonnes of illegally dumped materials – compared with 294.46 tonnes across all of 2023/34 and 205 tonnes in 2022/23.

Staff said are undertaking weekly inspections of known hot spots and using CCTV in “problematic locations” but deputy mayor Lauren Jew said more needed to be done.

Illegal dumping in Onkaparinga district in 2018. Picture: supplied

Next month she will call for council to develop an education campaign around illegal dumping and write to the Local Government Association to determine how much it was costing councils across the state and what strategies worked to curb the practice.

“If we can come up with some more strategies or engage the community better or provide more information to the community, it might assist in alleviating some of that financial burden and human resources … and the impact on the environment,” she said.

Council has spent more than $900,000 over the past three financial years – including $230,000 over the first nine months of the current financial year — to clean up illegally disposed waste, with a council spokesperson stating the wrongdoing placed “an unnecessary financial and operational burden on our community and services”.

So far this financial year, it has netted just over $41,000 in fines for litter offences through 43 expiations.

Ms Jew said she understood some people may not have the capacity to pay to dispose of waste and will also ask staff to investigate a pre-booking voucher system that would allow residents to access cheaper dumping fees.

Illegal dumping around Onkaparinga in 2018. Picture: Supplied.

Following the report, some residents raised concerns around dump fees and cuts to free collection services, with one local stating that “most of the illegal dumping I see is mattresses”.

Council currently provides two free hard-waste collections to households each year but some items – such as innerspring mattresses – cannot be included.

Council used to offer free mattress collection and green organics bulk drop-off but last year it scrapped those services in favour of a paid system.

A spokesperson said the changes have resulted in only “a slight increase” in the illegal dumping of those items.

Originally published as Onkaparinga Council spends nearly $1m to clean up illegally dumped rubbish following thousands of reports