New litter fees and new campaign

The Far North District Council has adopted new litter fees which increase the maximum penalty for illegally dumping rubbish to $400.

The new fees under the Litter Amendment Act 2006 came into effect on Monday (27 August 2007) and enable the council to issue instant Infringement Notices to anybody identified as being responsible for rubbish dumped on the roadside or elsewhere.

Regulatory & Customer Services Field Compliance Manager Barry Webb says one of the areas the council will be particularly targeting is illegal dumping at drop off points set aside to assist collections by private waste collection services.

“These locations are designed to enable the private contractors, on specific days, to pick up domestic rubbish bags providing each bag carries the relevant pre-paid sticker issued by the collection service.

“However at present this service is being abused with people leaving rubbish out for several days prior to the specified collection date. In some cases bags are also being left out without an appropriate sticker.

“This leads to major problems with bags being ripped open by dogs, cats, and rodents resulting in an unsightly and unhealthy spread of rubbish in the vicinity,” he says.

The private waste collection companies will not take a bag without a company sticker displayed and the problem persists until the rubbish is cleaned up - generally at the expense of the ratepayers.

“We intend in future to start issuing Infringement Notices in these situations which means potential costs to those responsible of between $100 and the new limit of $400,” he says.

All it takes to avoid an Infringement Fee is a little common sense- don’t put your bag out too soon so that dogs and cats don’t get a prolonged chance to wreck havoc, he says.

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The council is also continuing to target illegal dumping outside Refuse Transfer Stations using a variety of monitoring techniques including surveillance cameras. Over 2100 cubic meters of rubbish has been illegally dumped in the vicinity of Transfer Stations in the last year.

In a further initiative designed to combat illegal dumping on a larger scale, the council has renewed its offer of a $500 reward for information leading to the successful prosecution of offenders. The reward applies to large-scale illegal dumping (deposits exceeding 100 litres in volume) and not to offences for which Infringement Notices may apply.