Fee increase rubbished by residents
SUNSHINE Coast Council's decision to increase tip fees to compensate for the carbon tax will lead to increased levels of illegal dumping, a leading anti-rubbish campaigner has warned.
In a damning letter to councillors, Tewantin resident Joe Jurisevic described the recent price increases as "short-sighted and reactionary".
He warned that the fee increases would ensure the region faced a continuing problem with illegal dumping.
The council has increased the cost of taking a trailer-load of rubbish to the tip from $14 to $16, while the domestic waste charge has risen from $110 a tonne to $130 a tonne for big disposers.
While agreeing not to reintroduce the popular kerbside collection days, councillors also voted for a 9.2% increase for the cost of wheelie bin services.
Mr Jurisevic, who co-ordinates Clean Up Australia Day activities in the Tewantin area, said that when the former State Government introduced waste levies, the amount of illegal rubbish dumping became evident immediately.
The new LNP government had scrapped the levies but council had missed a golden opportunity to reduce illegal dumping, he said.
"The opportunity to encourage illegal dumpers back to landfill sites, where they may be re-educated to better sort their waste, maximise recycling opportunities and reduce the impact on our environment, could have been seized," Mr Jurisevic said.
"Instead, I fear we will continue to see illegal dumping continue to increase as economic impacts hit hard at household and business budgets.
"Council figures will not reveal the full impact of illegal dumping, as a great deal occurred in state forests and national parks and did not directly impact on council.
"But the impact was felt during this year's Clean Up Australia Day when waste was collected from many areas of our local environment, with significant increases in illegal dumping clearly observed and cleaned up in state forests and national parks, as well as council-controlled reserves.
"The possible opportunity the removal of these fees could have created will now be lost."
Mr Jurisevic said the introduction of the carbon tax and its potential impact had been known for some time.
The council's decision to increase fees showed it had not planned well enough for the tax, he said.
