New Council partnerships to fight illegal waste dumping

Four more councils will join the City of Wyndham as early partners in a series of statewide Hotspot campaigns targeting known dumping sites with high volumes of waste.

The cities of Hume, Banyule, Melton and Greater Geelong will partner with Victoria’s Illegal Waste Dumping Taskforce to combat illegal dumping at sites where councils are seeing the highest incidents of this unlawful behaviour.

This follows the success of August’s Wyndham City Hotspot campaign. Two months after the blitz, the targeted locations along Doherty’s Road, Tarneit, remain free of illegally dumped construction and demolition waste.

EPA Executive Director of Operations Rachel Gualano said the Taskforce will join forces with Hume, Banyule, Melton and Greater Geelong councils to hold offenders to account, prevent repeat offences, and implement lasting solutions to stop dumping before it occurs.

“Illegal dumping is a complex issue globally and contrary to what some may think, there’s no one-size-fits-all fix.

“Through the Taskforce, EPA is supporting councils and other public land managers to implement solutions tailored to the dumping challenges they face on their land, and to use the powers they have under the Environment Protection Act 2017 to tackle this wicked problem.”

The Illegal Waste Dumping Taskforce is a partnership between Victoria’s environmental agencies, led by EPA Victoria with the Conservation Regulator, Parks Victoria and DEECA.

Councils can access financial support for illegal dumping cleanup costs through the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action’s Illegal Dumping Clean-up Rebate Program.

If you see illegal dumping or know anything about it, report it to the EPA on 1300 372 842 or go to our online pollution reporting portal(opens in a new window).