There is absolutely no excuse for the illegal dumping of rubbish in Greater Geelong.
Late last year, a significant pile of rubbish abandoned on Point Wilson Road in Avalon made headlines, sparking frustration among many residents – myself included.
Infuriating is an understatement; illegal dumping is a despicable act.
These dumpings are an eyesore, indicating a lack of pride for our beautiful region while posing a threat to our precious wildlife and natural environment.
From a financial sustainability perspective, these acts are also an avoidable waste of City resources and add up to a ghastly cost every year.
Since the beginning of this financial year, our waste team has responded to around 3000 reports of illegal rubbish dumping.
The number of requests has increased year-on-year since 2021, and the City’s clean-up efforts have cost ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
This financial year alone, illegal rubbish dumping has cost around $300,000 to date.
This figure considers the cost for waste disposal, but doesn’t even begin to touch on labour costs, plant and equipment costs and transport.
I don’t want to hear excuses. There are numerous avenues for correct rubbish disposal, and illegal dumping should never be on the cards.
The City manages two resource recovery centres including a commercial waste landfill site in Greater Geelong.
While the Geelong Resource Recovery Centre at Douro Street is being redeveloped, an interim site at 21 Sliven Street, North Geelong, is fully operational.
This site accepts domestic quantities of e-waste, appliances, batteries, barbecue gas bottles and polystyrene.
Drysdale Resource Recovery Centre offers a drop-off service that accepts and recycles a wide range of items not collected in household bin recycling.
For the full list of items accepted at our sites, visit geelongaustralia.com.au/recycling
The landfill at Drysdale is available to commercial and industrial users and is open every day except for Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Good Friday.
With these facilities readily available, there is simply no justification for incidents like the commercial scale dumping in Avalon.
Furthermore, the City offers a very efficient hard rubbish collection service that residents can access twice a year.
Whitegoods, metal appliances, furniture, timber, ceramic, empty paint tins, mirrors, fabric, metal, electronics and more can all be collected through this service.
Simply book the collection and leave your waste on your front lawn or driveway. To keep our streets clutter-free, please do not leave items on the nature strip, our team will not collect them from there.
To find out more about the hard waste collection service, visit geelongaustralia.com.au/hardwaste
We know rubbish dumping isn’t a problem unique to Geelong, but we shouldn’t tolerate this poor and selfish behaviour.
Community vigilance and reporting is vital to stopping dumpers in their tracks and saving ratepayers from exorbitant clean-up costs.
We all have a part to play. You can report dumping on public land by calling the City on 5272 5272.
Reports can also be made to EPA Victoria online or by calling their 24-hour pollution hotline on 1300 372 842.
By working together, we send a clear message that dumping will not be tolerated.
