Every year, council spends an enormous amount of time and money to clean up litter and dumped waste in Townsville's natural and urban environment. This does not include the efforts volunteer and community groups for to assist in cleaning up and restoring natural areas.
What problems can it cause?
Littering and Illegal Dumping of waste has the potential to cause health and safety risks for both people and the natural environment, 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 potntial fire hazard.
- Attract further dumping.
- Other antisocial and illegal activities.
- Decrease community pride and intensifies the problem.
- Builds up next to roads, can block gutters and finds its way into creeks, rivers and onto beaches - it harms and kills wildlife for example, plastic waste can choke and suffocate birds and marine like.
- Even unlikely materials such as soil and garden waste contributes to litter and dumping issues within Townsville by spreading pests and weeds, including fire ants and lantana.
- Organic waste such as food scraps, contributes to algae blooms in waterways.
- Cigarette butts comprise of 90% waste littered from a vehicle. Plastic cigarette filtes end up in wateways 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.
Why does it happen?
Businesses and individuals that illegally dump do so to avoid fees at landfills, or the time and effort required for proper disposal.
To avoid detection and potential fines, offenders go to extraordinary lenghts 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.
Information Available
What is Littering and Illegal Dumping?
Littering: Litter has been defined as the deposit of waste at a place that is an amount less than 200L in volume.
What can it look like?
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.
Dangerous Littering: Depotisted equalling an amount less than 200L in volume, that causes or is likely to cause harm to a person or the environment.
What can it look like?
Such expample include; throwing a lit cigarette onto dry grass in extreme fire danger conditions, smashing a glass bottle and leave the broken glass on a footpath, leaving a syringe in a public place other than in a container intended to receive used syringes.
Illegal Dumping: Illegal dumping has been defined as the deposit of waste at a place that is an amount equalling greater than 200L in volume.
What can it look like?
Dumping is unsightly, degrades the local environment, reduces property value 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.
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 Heritage Protection (DEHP) have a shared responsibility for litter and illegal dumping enforcement. Authorised officers from council and Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) can issue fines and direction notices for litter and illegal dumping offence.
Examples of litter and illegal dumping fines are 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. |
$220.00 |
- |
$3,300.00 |
| Dangerous littering |
Broken glass left in a playground.
A lit cigarette thrown near dry grass. |
$440.00 |
$1,760.00 |
$4,400.00 |
| Illegal dumping - More than 200L and less 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. |
$1,760.00 |
$3,300.00 |
$44,000.00 |
| 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. |
$2,200.00 |
$6,600.00 |
$110,000.00 |
| Illegal dumping - failure to clean up waste |
A person requested to clean up litter or illegal dumping waste who does not comply within the timeframes specified. |
- |
- |
$10,000.00 |
|
A person requested to clean up advertising material who does not comply within the timeframes specified/ |
|
$400.00 |
$4,000.00 |
Enforcement process to remove waste
Step 1 Show Cause Notice: Before issuing a compliance notice, council will invite the offending person to 'show cause' whyc the compliance notice should not be given. The show cause notice will outline the facts and circumstances forming the basis for the belief that a compliance notice should be given.
Step 2 Wait for Response: A response will be required at least 14 business days after the show cause notice is issued.
No Response
Step 3 Compliance Notice: Queensland litter laws allow authorised officers from council and the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) to issue compliance notices for illegal dumping. The compliance 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.
Step 4 Wait for Response: 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.
No Response
Step 5 Fine: If a person fails to comply with a direction to remove waste, they will face a penalty of up to $10,000, and/or Prosecution: The offending person can face a $33,000 penalty on top of fine.
How to report Littering and Illegal Dumping
Report witnessing 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, report it to Townscille City Council's Environmental Health Department through council's Customer Service Centre.
Ensure you take note of the following in order to report the event:
- The vehicle's registration number, make and colour
- Time
- Date
- Location
Your report will be considered by the Environmental Health Unit 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 ne someone else.
To safeguard the rights of vehicle owners, if the registered owner was not the person responsible, 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.
Report littering or illegal dumping site
Contact council's Customer Service Centre and lodge a complaint which will then be directed to an Environmental Health Officer to investigate.
Due to certain circumstances, the following actions may result:
- Due to legislative requirements, more evidence may be required to further pursue the matter (i.e. details mentioned above have not been provided). As a result no further action will be able to be taken, it is very important that is you are able to provide council with further details, you do so.
- The complaint has been handed over to Parks and Open Space Management to be resolved.
- Action has been taken against the offender.
- The alleged offender has been issued a warning letter.
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.
Types of Waste
Residential Waste
General Waste - Non-Recycable Items
What is it?
- Food scraps
- Disposable nappies
- Ceramics and oven ware
- Small broken household items
- Non-recycable plastics and glass
- Styrofoam
- Food packaging
Correct Disposal:
- Residential 'Red or Green Lid' waste bin
Recycable Waste
What is it?
- Paper - newspaper, magazines and advertising brochures
- Cardboard - cardboard, egg cartons and pizza boxes (flattened)
- Cartons - milk and juice cartons including tetrapacks (rinsed)
- Plastic - bottles and jars but not window glass, light bulbs, mirrors, ceramics or cookware
- Aluminium - cans and pit trays (no food scraps)
- Steel - food cans and containers lids (clean) and empty aerosols
Correct Disposal:
- Residential "Yellow Lid' waste bin
- Remove all lids from plastic and glass bottles
- Rinse out juice and milk cartons, food tins, glass jars etc
- Place items loose in the bin - not in a plastic bag
- Include only household items, not from the garage or garden shed
For more information including plastic recycle symbols visit council's Recycling and Waste website.
Liquid and Hazardous Waste
What is it?
- Asbestos
Chemicals
- Car batteries
- Grease traps
- Septic waste
- Syringes
- Trade waste - liquid waste discharged into the council sewer by commercial and industrial businesses
- Unwanted medicines
- Waste automotive oil - including oil filters
- Waste cooking oil
Correct Disposal:
- This type of waste must not be disposed of into household waste bins.
- Council's Waste Services Department is not able to collect and recycle liquid and hazardous waste
- This type of waste must be disposed of by a waste collection agent who has the correct and current approvals to collect, transport and recycle such waste. Refer to your Yellow Pages for information on contractors that can provide this service.
- Did not answer your question? Contact council's Waste Services through Customer Service Centre.
Construction Waste
What is it?
- Concrete
- Metal
- Plaster
- Bricks/pavers/tiles
- Asphalt
- Timber
- Construction soil
Correct Disposal:
- Any of the following Landfills in the local Townsville City Council area takes construction and demolition waste:
- Hervey Range Landfill
- Jensen Landfill and
- Stuart Landfill
Electronic Waste
What is it?
- Computers
- Printer
- Televisions
Correct Disposal:
- Any of the following Landfills in the local Townsville City Council area takes construction and demolition waste:
- Hervey Range Landfill
- Jensen Landfill and
- Stuart Landfill
Other Options:
- Mobile phones and mobile batteries
- Mobile phone stores, Mobilemuster collection sites including the Townsville City Council Thuringowa Customer Service Centre.
- Printer cartridges
- Australia Post Offices, printer cartridge businesses
- Televisions
- Recycling centre at landfills
- Stuart Landfill, Vantassel Street, Stuart
- Hervey's Range Landfill, Hervey's Range Road, Bohle Plains
Fact Sheets
Further Information
If you would like further information about litter and illegal dumping please visit DEHP's website.
For information about council's waste collection and landfill services please contact council's Customer Service Centre.