Litter builds up next to roads, can block gutters and finds its way into creeks, rivers and onto beaches. It harms and kills wildlife. Plastic waste can choke and suffocate birds and marine life. Soil and garden waste spreads pests and weeds, including fire ants and lantana. Organic waste such as food scraps, contributes to algae blooms in waterways. Every year an enormous amount of money, volunteer hours and energy is spent in cleaning up litter waste.
Common types of litter include cigarette butts, drink bottles, fast food wrappers, material from a trailer that is poorly secured, grass clippings swept into the gutter, fishing tackle. Litter has been defined as the deposit of waste at a place that is an amount less than 200L in volume
Cigarette butts comprise of 90% of waste littered from a vehicle. Plastic cigarette filters end up in waterways and can be swallowed by marine animals. These animals will slowly choke to death. Cigarette butts littered from motor vehicles can also start bush fires – costing lives and damaging property.
Illegal dumping is unsightly, degrades the local environment, reduces property values and costs rate payers a substantial amount of money each year to clean up.
Illegal dumping includes items such as bags of rubbish, garden waste, building materials, household goods, abandoned cars, scrap tyres and hazardous waste. Furthermore, dumping of waste illegal cause health and safety risks, it can:
- Contain broken glass, syringes, nappies, medical waste and toxic substances like asbestos
- Attract rodents, insects and other vermin
- Provide an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes
- Block waterways and stormwater drains, increasing the potential for flooding and erosion
- Be a potential fire hazard
Illegal dumping site and hot spots not only attract further dumping but other antisocial and illegal activities. It decreases community pride and intensifies the problem. Illegal dumping has been defines as the deposit of waste at a place that is an amount more than 200L in volume.
Businesses and individuals that illegally dump do so to avoid disposal fees at landfills, or the time and effort required for proper disposal. To avoid detection and potential fines, offenders go to extraordinary lengths to illegally dispose of materials. If they considered the cost of fuel and time taken to dispose of the waste, they would usually find it cheaper and quicker to dispose of these materials legally at a landfill or transfer station.
Queensland Littering Laws and Penalities
The Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 includes a range of offences for litter and illegal dumping, including:
- General littering
- Littering from a vehicle
- Dangerous littering
- Illegal dumping
- Failing to clean up waste
Local governments and the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) have a shared responsibility for litter and illegal dumping enforcement. Authorised officers from council and DERM can issue fines and direction notices for litter and illegal dumping offence.
Examples of litter and illegal dumping fines included in the table below:
Table 1: Penalties for litter and illegal dumping
| General littering and litter from a vehicle |
Throwing cigarette butt from a car window.
Food wrappers, bus tickets or food items left on ground.
Throwing a soft drink can, takeaway food packaging or plastic bag from a car. |
$200.00 |
- |
$3,000.00 |
| Dangerous littering |
Broken glass left in a playground.
A lit cigarette thrown near dry grass. |
$400.00 |
$1,600.00 |
$4,000.00 |
| Illegal dumping - More than 200L and less than 2,000L |
Disposing of waste in an area that is not a dedicated waste facility, i.e. large domestic items such as fridges, garden refuse, construction material. |
$400.00 |
$1,600.00 |
$4,000.00 |
| Illegal dumping - More than 2,500L |
Disposing of waste in an area that is not a dedicated waste facility, i.e. large domestic items such as fridges, garden refuse, construction material. |
$1,650.00 |
$6,600.00 |
$16,500.00 |
What happens if I can't find a bin?
Everyone should take responsibility for their waste. For example, when eating lunch in a park, if there is no bin close by; take the waste with you and dispose of it when you find a bin.
If there is insufficient litter bin infrastructure in your local park or community area, contact council’s Customer Service Centre and lodge a service request.
Littering and Illegal Dumping from Vehicles
Queensland’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 provides everyone with the ability to report littering and illegal dumping associated with a motor vehicle, trailer or vessel.
If you witness a person littering or illegally dumping waste from a vehicle, trailer or vessel, take note of the vehicle’s registration number, time, date and location and then visit DERM website and report it!
Your report will be considered by DERM, and a penalty infringement notice may be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle if there is sufficient evidence. The new laws deem the registered owner of the vehicle to have committed the offence in the first instance – even though the actual offender may be someone else.
To safeguard the rights of vehicle owners, if the registered owner was not the person responsible for the offence, they can complete a statutory declaration within 28 days of receiving the fine and declare the person responsible for the offence or that the vehicle had been sold at the time the incident occurred.
Directions to remove waste
Queensland litter laws allow authorised officers from council and DERM to issue compliance notices for illegal dumping. The compliance notice may require the offender to collect, transport, store, treat or dispose of the waste and ensure that the person responsible does not impose a cost to the council and ultimately rate payers for the waste to be cleaned up.
If a person fails to comply with a direction to remove waste, they will face a penalty of up to $10,000.
If a person is issued with a compliance notice and they are not the person that is responsible, they can complete a statutory declaration within 28 days of receiving the notice and declare the person responsible for the offence or that the vehicle had been sold at the time the incident occurred.
If you see someone illegally dumping waste, report it to DERM
Queensland’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011 provides everyone with the ability to report littering and illegal dumping associated with a motor vehicle, trailer or vessel.
If you witness a person littering or illegally dumping waste from a vehicle, trailer or vessel, take note of the vehicle’s registration number, time, date and location and then visit DERM website and report it!
What to do with waste oil
Under no circumstances should waste cooking oil be disposed of to waste bins.
All waste cooking oils must be disposed of to a waste collection agent who has the correct and current approvals to collect, transport and recycle such waste. Currently, such agents in Townsville include North Queensland Resource Recovering (NQRR), Clean It Industrial Services and Global Waste Solutions.
Council’s Waste Services Department is not able to collect and recycle waste oil.
Fact sheets
Further Information
If you would like further information about litter and illegal dumping please visit DERM's website.
For information about council's waste collection and landfill services please contact council's Customer Service Centre.