Warning on waste dumps

A BUNDABERG man is warning the increased charges for commercial waste at the council tip could see the bush around the city turned into an illegal dumping ground.

Rob Bauer says he saw the effects of increased charges in Sydney two years ago when people started dumping their waste in car parks and laneways rather than paying the increased costs.

"People just won't go to the dump if they have to pay increased prices," he said.

The Bundaberg Regional Council agreed last week to impose a fee of $38.50 as tonne of commercial waste deposited at its tips.

This was in line with the State Government's waste reduction and recycling strategy to reduce the amount of waste taken to council tips.

But Rob Bauer, who runs the group Citizens Who Care, said two years ago in Sydney he was charged $146 to offload 220kg of waste at a tip.

"Every laneway and every car park behind shops just had rubbish dumped in it because people weren't prepared to pay," he said.

All this costs if going to do is to get people to dump rubbish by the side of the road."

Mr Bauer said he frequently drove through off-road areas and often found fridges and washing machines that had been dumped in the bush.

"People are doing it now, what's it going top be like when they have to pay more to dump their waste?' he said.

Council waste and recycling manager James Stanfield said he expected there would be a bit of a peak of people dumping waste in the bush around Bundaberg before they got used to having to pay an increased cost.

He pointed out the charges applied to commercial waste.

"The new fees and charges are really only going to affect businesses," he said.

"I expect there are some business operators that will take the risks."

Mr Stanfield said he had a fair amount of confidence the business community would do the right thing.

He said if anyone was caught dumping waste illegally he had no doubt the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) would very quickly jump in and prosecute them.

"They will want people to realise they are very serious," he said.

A spokesman for DERM said illegal dumping ruined the image of Queensland and damaged its reputation.

"The penalties for illegal dumping reflect the seriousness of the offence and range from $400 up to $16,500 as the maximum penalty for prosecution," he said.

DERM plans to introduce an online reporting system for illegal dumping and littering.