Illegal tyre dumping in Melbourne’s east costing Whitehorse, Monash councils
The streets of the eastern suburbs are being used as a dumping ground for thousands of tyres and it’s frustrating residents. But police are still unsure who is to blame.
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The streets of the eastern suburbs are being used as a dumping ground for tyres in an act of “environmental vandalism”.
Frustrated residents have been finding the piles of abandoned tyres since at least May, with councils bearing the brunt of the crime, having to fork out tens of thousands of dollars in disposal fees.
Whitehorse Council has had to clear more than 2000 tyres from its streets this year, while Monash Council has had to deal with more than 1400.
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And Leading Senior Constable Craig Lane, who is managing Victoria Police’s investigation into the crime, said it wasn’t just Whitehorse and Monash being used as ‘tips’, with tyres being found in Manningham, Knox, Yarra Valley, Casey, Kingston and Boroondara.
In Whitehorse, tyres have been dumped on nature strips, in carparks, at Blackburn Primary School and outside shop fronts.
Councillor Blair Barker is calling for witnesses to help bring a stop to the “industrial-scale environmental vandalism” polluting the streets.
He noted the dumping lacked a clear pattern, occurring in “pretty high traffic” areas as well as secluded spaces.
Whitehorse general manager corporate services Peter Smith said the council had “invested significant resources into the investigation and removal of thousands of tyres since February.
Monash Mayor Shane McCluskey said his council had removed 1445 dumped tyres from 150 sites across the city since January.
“In comparison, we removed 125 illegally dumped tyres from 55 sites in 2017,” he said.
The crime is eating into councils’ staff resources and hip pockets.
Cr McCluskey said Monash estimated it had spent an extra 75 hours collecting dumped tyres this year, and had spent $15,000 more recycling tyres than in other years.
Affected councils met with police in August to find a solution to the surge in dumping.
Leading Sen-Constable Craig Lane said it was difficult to apprehend those behind the tyre dumping because finding the perpetrator required either camera footage or a confession.
He said police were chasing one suspect who had been caught on CCTV dumping tyres on four occasions — twice at a Doncaster shopping centre, once at the Yarra Valley Country Club and another time in Officer.
Leading Sen-Constable Lane said the suspect, who was evading police, didn’t seem to be concerned about being seen.
On the footage he can be seen dumping dozens of tyres in broad daylight.
Anyone with information on the dumping can contact Leading Sen-Constable Lane at craig.lane@police. vic.gov.au
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