Dumping plagues coastal parks

Illegal dumping in forests and parks has left authorities with a $10,000 clean-up bill on the Surf Coast.
Construction waste, old cars and mattresses were among hard-rubbish plaguing the coast over the past financial year, state departments said.
Parks Victoria and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spent “close to $10,000 on removal costs over the 12 months, they said.
“Our parks and forests are maintained for the enjoyment of the community, (so) it’s disappointing that an inconsiderate few are treating these areas as a dumping ground,” Surf Coast chief ranger Peter Hay said.
“In the last 12 months, valuable staff time has been used for disposing of a significant amount of rubbish, from construction waste and car parts to mattresses and microwaves.
“We’ve removed five cars (that) were dumped across the Anglesea Heath and the Great Otway National Park.
“Tyres are often discarded in our forests and parks, which is a cause for concern. In addition to being a fire hazard, tyres contain toxic chemicals (that) can leach into the environment.”
Dumped green waste was also causing problems between Anglesea and Lorne’s, Mr Hay said.
“While taking our staff time to collect, transport and dispose of the green waste appropriately, there’s also the potential for this waste to introduce weed species to the natural environment.”
The money spent on removing the rubbish could instead have paid for “maintaining and improving facilities”, senior forest management and roading officer Craig Clifford said.
“Leaving rubbish in our forests and parks shows no regard for other visitors, our staff, native animals and the environment,” Mr Clifford said.
“Our staff monitor known hotspots and work with Victoria Police on any information that can be provided by the public.”
Mr Clifford urged anyone with information about illegal dumping to phone the EPA on 1300 372 842 or the environment department’s customer service centre on 136 186.
On-the-sport fines of $317 apply for littering or dumping in national or forest parks.
Offenders also face prosecution and a maximum penalty of $6342 under the Environment Protection Act.
Illegal dumping has become a widespread problem across the region in recent years.
The Indy has reported on various dumping hot spots in the past few years, ranging from train tracksides at Lara to op shops in Geelong and beach foreshore near Torquay.
Greater Geelong voters have previously linked the municipality’s lack of hard-rubbish collections to illegal dumping, using 2012’s council elections to call for restoration of the service. City Hall ran one hard-rubbish collection in the years after council amaglamations in 1993 but has ruled out another due to the expense.
In February 2013, then-councillor Andy Richards said a hard-rubbish collection for greater Geelong would cost “millions“. He ruled out the service returning despite City Hall spending $350,000 collecting dumped hard rubbish in the first eight months of the 2012/2014 financial year.