Dumped rubbish and graffiti: Hume Council’s annual cleanup bill tops $2 million

You won’t believe how much one northern Melbourne council had to spend last year clearing up thousands of tonnes of dumped rubbish and removing graffiti.

HUME Council spent a staggering amount of ratepayers’ money clearing up illegally dumped rubbish, and graffiti last financial year.

The council’s Sustainability Report 2016/17 revealed a whopping 4250 tonnes of illegally dumped material was removed by council workers, at a phenomenal cost to ratepayers of $1.8 million.

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The council also had to outlay $200,000 on graffiti removal the same year, much to the dismay of pensioner Alan Douglas, who oversees a local graffiti cleaning project.

Councillor Jodi Jackson said this highlighted an urgent need to prioritise environmental initiatives.

Hume sustainable infrastructure and services director Peter Waite said over the past 12 months, the council had attended 5280 sites to collect strewn litter and dumped rubbish.

“Illegally dumped rubbish in Hume, whether it’s a food wrapper or boxes of waste, is damaging to Hume City’s landscape, environment and visual appearance,” Mr Waite said.

“There is no excuse for illegally dumping rubbish.”

Mr Douglas said graffiti vandalism was illegal and if vandals were caught, charged and left with a criminal record, it stayed with them for life.

“Parents need to pass this message onto their kids,” he said.

“When you go for a job, people ask for police reports, and bosses will say why would I hire this person?”

To report illegal rubbish dumping in Hume phone 1300 HUME CLEAN (1300 486 325).

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