Hume Council vows to crack down on illegal rubbish dumpers

LITTER louts are using streets in Melbourne’s north as personal garbage bins, with one council receiving nearly 4000 reports of rubbish dumping and issuing 150 fines in the past year.

Rubbish illegally dumped on Amaroo Rd, Craigieburn. Picture: Kylie Else

HUME mayor Drew Jessop has vowed to fight back against litter louts after residents slammed ‘pigs’ dumping rubbish in the city.

Craigieburn Residents’ Association secretary Denis Moore is fed up and said he had seen motorists tossing rubbish bags out of car windows.

“I hate it, hate it, hate it,” he said.

“I report it all the time, but we’re getting nowhere.”

Mr Moore said hot spots for rubbish dumping included Amaroo Rd and Craigieburn Rd East.

“We’re just sick of the pigs who are dumping their rubbish in Craigieburn,” he said.

“Why don’t they just continue further down to the tip?”

Meadow Heights resident John Mitchell said he saw a lot of rubbish on nature strips.

“Rubbish in this place is disgusting,” he said.

“Why do we have to live in a pigsty here in Hume?”

Amaroo Rd at Craigieburn is a hotspot for rubbish dumping. Picture: Kylie Else

Cr Jessop said he would look for fresh ideas to discourage people from rubbish dumping.

“We can do much better, and I, as a new mayor, will work with council officers to find new ways to tackle that,” he said.

“Rubbish dumping is one the worst, most disrespectful ways for people to say, ‘I just don’t care’.”

In the past financial year, the council received 3942 requests to remove rubbish and fined 156 people for illegal dumping.

People who illegally dump garbage in Hume can face penalties of up to $2000.

Cr Jessop said the council aimed to make it easy for the community to dispose of unwanted household items, through kerbside collections and vouchers for free hard rubbish collections or tip visits.

He encouraged people to report rubbish dumpers through the council’s free app or dumping hotline, 1300-HUME-CLEAN.

What’s dumped?

Hume Council’s director of sustainable infrastructure and services, Peter Waite, said some of the most common items illegally dumped in the municipality included:

White goods

Mattresses

Clothing

Furniture

Soil

Concrete

Timber