Waste Management
LITTERING & ILLEGAL DUMPING
Every year, Council spends an enormous amount of time and money to clean up litter and illegally dumped waste in the Town of Halls Creek. Problems associated with littering/illegal dumping 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 potential fire hazard;
- Attract further dumping;
- Decrease community pride and intensifies the problem;
- Block gutters and find its way into creeks, rivers and onto beaches
- Harm and/or kill wildlife
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. 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.
Dangerous Littering: Deposits equalling an amount less than 200L in volume, that causes or is likely to cause harm to a person or the environment. Examples include throwing a lit cigarette onto dry grass in extreme fire danger conditions; smashing a glass bottle and leaving 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 amounts greater than 200L in volume. Dumping is unsightly, degrades the local environment and costs rate payers each year to clean up. Illegal dumping includes items such as bags of household rubbish, garden waste, building and commercial materials, household goods, scrap tyres and hazardous waste.
The WA Litter Regulations 1981 includes a range of offences for litter and illegal dumping, including:
- General littering
- Littering creating public risk
- Illegal dumping
- Depositing domestic or commercial waste in public litter receptacle
- Transporting load inadequately secured
Local governments, the Police and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) have a shared responsibility for litter and illegal dumping enforcement. The Police, Authorised officers from council and Department of Water and Environmental Regulation can issue fines and direction notices for litter and illegal dumping offence.
