Victorian ratepayers make almost 70,000 dumped rubbish complaints

Illegally dumped rubbish is plaguing Victorian neighbourhoods, with ratepayers making almost 70,000 complaints to their councils.

Glen Huntly resident Paul Caine is fighting to get rubbish removed. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Ratepayers across Victoria complained to councils almost 70,000 times about illegally dumped rubbish in their neighbourhoods.

The reports were made via the Snap Send Solve app which allows people to directly send a photo of an issue to the responsible council or authority.

The latest data shows Victorians made 68,448 complaints to their councils last year about dumped rubbish and litter – a 42 per cent increase on the previous year.

Other top complaints included overgrown vegetation with 47,385 reports, illegal parking (28,325), graffiti (28,243) and abandoned trolleys (27,105).

Overgrown vegetation and abandoned trolley complaints grew by 59 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.

Overall, more than 310,000 requests from the app were sent to local councils, supermarket retailers and telcos in 2021, an increase of more than 55 per cent compared to the previous year.

The Herald Sun has also received dozens of complaints from residents across Melbourne about the “shocking” state of their communities, with gripes about overgrown grass, graffiti and dumped rubbish.

Residents say it took media coverage to get dumped rubbish removed. Picture: Tim Carrafa

It comes after large pile of rubbish on Rosstown Rd in Glen Huntly was cleared over the weekend after it was reported in the on Tuesday, local Paul Caine said.

Mr Caine said he was frustrated it had taken media coverage for the street junk to be removed.

“There are about four piles like this still further up the street but they didn’t clean those,” he said.

“Somebody sent a truck along and they just took the pile that got all the attention.”

Mr Caine said since June 2021 he had logged 331 separate complaints with Glen Eira Council about dumped rubbish in Carnegie and Glen Huntly.

Rebecca Hyland, of Cranbourne North, said she was forced to contact the Victorian Ombudsman late last year over Casey Council’s failure to cut overgrown grass.

“Our rates are more than $2000 and it’s unacceptable that our parks are unusable due to overgrown grass, it poses a safety risk due to snakes and bushfires,” Ms Hyland said.

Overgrown vegetation and abandoned trolley complaints grew by 59 per cent and 65 per cent respectively

“When they finally did mow the lawn last month the mower missed massive patches of grass and grass clippings were left behind, it was an absolute mess.

“The council needs to do better.”

In an email by a Victorian Ombudsman investigation officer to Casey residents seen by the Herald Sun, it said the Ombudsman had received “several complaints” from community members about the council.

“Some areas have grass more than a metre high and this poses safety risks around bushfires, allergies, snakes and visibility for drivers,” the email said.

Heather Pasnin, of Hampton Park, said she was also frustrated by the overgrown grass, graffiti and road potholes in the City of Casey.

Ratepayers Victoria spokeswoman Verity Webb said council chief executives were choosing to spend rate revenue on state government administration and internal overheads instead of services for residents.

Graffiti in Hoddle Street, Collingwood. Picture: Mark Stewart

“The state government is aiding and abetting this by propping up inefficient councils with state government grants,” she said.

Snap Send Solve founder Danny Gorog said: “We’re seeing people all over Victoria take great pride in their communities and use our free, simple tool to let the right people know about anything that needs fixing.”

In a statement on Casey Council’s website it said: “We understand that the long grass situation is disappointing and want to assure our residents that we are doing everything possible to ensure that the long grass across our city is cut as soon as possible.”

The council’s acting safer communities manager Lee Hobbs said from July 2021 to January 2022 the council received 1321 reports of graffiti, all of which were removed within one business day.