ILLEGALLY dumped waste has cost ratepayers $30,000 and taken council crews three days to clean up, igniting calls for people to consider their impact on the community.
A 42 tonne haul of white goods, furniture, household garbage, car bodies and parts, building rubble and construction waste was left strewn on a site at Wattle Ponds Road at Singleton Heights.
Singleton council's Infrastructure and Planning acting director Katie Hardie said worse still was that the bushland site is surrounded by homes.
"Council's rangers respond to up to 100 reports of illegal dumping a year, and the clean up costs our community tens of thousands of dollars that could be better spent on facilities and services to support local residents," she said.
"The case on Wattle Ponds Road alone added up to about $30,000, accounting for the cost of machinery that needed to be brought in and Singleton Waste Management Facility fees.
"Financial impacts are one thing, another is that piles of waste dumped in our natural environment and on our kerbsides are unsightly, harmful to human health, encourage vermin and turn residential areas-where children might play into rubbish tips."
Ms Hardy said that while incidents of kerbside waste and illegal dumping are typically blamed on waste management facility fees, the council offers programs to support residents to dispose of or re-use unwanted items for free.
She said the council is working with the community to minimise the amount of waste that goes into landfill through its Burragan Recycling Shop, free tyre and mattress drop off days and the Community Recycling Centre at the Waste Management Facility.
The centre accepts a range of items including electronic waste, oils, plastics, paper, cardboard and polystyrene.
"Ratepayers will also receive their new waste vouchers in the coming months and this year's bulk waste collection is scheduled from 4 November to 13 December, when residents can dispose of general household bulky waste, dismantled swing sets and trampolines, scrap metal, degassed whitegoods, and furniture," Ms Hardy said.
"As well as these measures, council's rangers are now also better equipped with new technology to undertake 24-hour surveillance in problem areas and we encourage anyone who sees incidents of illegal dumping to report it to RIDonline so that we can keep our local environment clean and safe for everyone."
Illegal dumping can be reported to the EPA.
