Forest managers in South Australia’s south-east are hopeful new legislative powers to help the public dob in litterbugs may help combat the problem of illegal dumping in forests. Source: ABC News
This month, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) launched its Dob in a Litterer campaign as new provisions under the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act 2016 came into effect.
Now, the public can report cases of littering from vehicles, whether it be just a cigarette butt or a full trailer load of goods, using an app or website to upload evidence, location information and photographs to help the EPA fine offenders.
Green Triangle Forest Products (GTFP) business development manager Andrew Moore said the business was looking forward to testing out the new legislation, with illegal dumping of rubbish throughout plantations being a major issue.
“We would like to catch someone in the act,” he said.
The company grows and manages 22,000 hectares of pine forest plantations across south-east South Australia and south-west Victoria.
The company’s managing director Laurie Hein spoke out last year about the high cost of removing and controlling the spread of invasive plant species introduced in piles of green waste dumped in forests.
Mr Moore said the company was spending in the vicinity of $50,000 a year to pay crews to remove and dispose of rubbish, sometimes needing heavy equipment to remove larger items.
“It’s pretty frustrating to have to go and pick up other people’s rubbish from our forests,” he said.
Mr Moore said the problem had always been tracking down people doing the wrong thing, and he was hopeful the new legislation would empower staff as well as the public.
“It may well help our staff when they come across people doing it or they may be able to use some of the camera footage they have of people littering to help gain prosecution,” he said. “Anything that helps stop illegal dumping in our forests is a good thing.”
Ironically, some of the worst dumping hotspots for the company were in plantations within close proximity to the Caroline landfill and Mount Gambier City Council’s waste transfer station.
“Often it looks as though someone has turned up to the waste depot and they haven’t been able to dump their rubbish there, because they are the sorts of things you would take there — bicycles, old television sets or old cars,” Mr Moore said.
He said extended opening hours at the facility might help prevent some of the illegal dumping problems facing southeast forest growers.
But the old argument that council’s hard waste fees were too high was not a good enough reason to illegally dump your goods, he said.
“It costs us much more than $30 to pick up the rubbish and dispose of it,” he said. “It is pretty selfish and antisocial to dump your rubbish and create a problem for someone else when you can use the facilities we have available in Mount Gambier.”
People who illegally dump now could face fines of up to $1000, and Mr Moore welcomed the increase, saying the amount was an effective deterrent.
“It is maybe 30 times what it would cost someone to take a load of rubbish to the local dump in Mount Gambier,” he said.
People must be registered through the app to make a report, and the information must be uploaded within 14 days for the EPA to issue notices.
Mr Moore encouraged local residents to download the app and help stamp out a recurring problem.
“I’d really encourage anyone who does use our forests or drives past our forests, if they see someone with a trailer and they are unloading it in our forests, get straight onto them,” he said. “Don’t put yourself in harm obviously, but collect enough information to report it so that we may be able to obtain a prosecution.
“We certainly want to do something about curbing this issue.”
