New laws clamping down on illegal rubbish dumpers in the Territory have been introduced into the Legislative Assembly.
Minister for City Services, Chris Steel said the stronger littering laws reflected the importance of reducing and deterring littering in the community to protect and enhance the natural and built environment, while ensuring the health, amenity and wellbeing of residents.
“Canberrans should be able to be proud of a clean, liveable city without illegal dumping in their streets, parks and local schools,” Mr Steel said.
“Cleaning up after illegal dumping is a financial burden on ratepayers as our city services staff spend a considerable amount of time and money removing litter.”
He said that in 2017-18 the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate reported almost 800 incidents of illegal dumping which cost $2 million to clean up.
“The new laws will amend the existing offence provisions to ensure all kinds of littering and dumping are appropriately captured,” Mr Steel said.
“I know that in new suburbs, building materials on private land sometimes blow away into local waterways as well as other people’s property. This Bill will ensure that builders store material securely to prevent it from becoming litter.”
He said the legislation would ntroduce a framework for escalating offences, similar to other jurisdictions, where penalties increased with the volume, mass or nature of litter dumped.
“Fines have increased for driving a vehicle with an uncovered load to reflect the danger that this poses for other road users and the environment,” the Minister said.
“Cigarette butts cause a significant risk to our environment and result in 13 per cent of landscape fires in the ACT. Dropping a cigarette will incur a fine that reflects the seriousness of the offence.”
He said the new provisions would allow for clearly abandoned vehicles to be removed more quickly and efficiently from areas such as car parks, school grounds, and other areas the public could access.
“CCTV is increasingly being used to monitor areas known for dumping in the ACT,” Mr Steel said.
