By Tyler Wright
A fridge, couch, chairs, plastics plus much more are some of the illegally dumped rubbish which has been removed after somebody left the pile on the intersection of Beenak Road and Gembrook-Launching Place Road for more than three months.
Worker Leigh Davies, who frequents the Yarra Ranges area, raised concerns with local authorities after noticing the large dump site remained untouched for quite some time.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to see it there for a week or two; it takes a while for the agency’s wheels to get set in motion and people [to] call up but you [kept] driving past and think ‘that’s been there a while I reckon,’ and then another week goes past still there untouched, [and] another week,” Mr Davies said.
Mr Davies alerted VicRoads, Yarra Ranges Council, the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria (EPA) and Parks Victoria to the dumped rubbish in early August, and all bodies didn’t take ownership.
At first, he was told by Yarra Ranges Council the land is owned by VicRoads, although after submitting a pollution report to the Environment Protection Authority on Friday 5 August, Leigh received a written response stating “Yarra Ranges Shire is the correct body to respond to the issues you are experiencing.”
Now after weeks of going back and forth between agencies, the rubbish has been cleared.
Yarra Ranges Council removed the rubbish on Thursday 18 August, but still maintains VicRoads is responsible for the land.
“This rubbish was reported to council on 18 May, 29 June and twice on 15 August. In each instance, we’ve referred these requests for removal to VicRoads, as the land managers,” Director of Environment and Infrastructure at Yarra Ranges Council Mark Varmalis said.
Mr Varmalis said the rubbish was on an ‘apron’ of the Gembrook-Launching Place Road – a state-managed arterial road – and aprons of roads are the responsibility of the owner.
“They have collected dumped rubbish from this spot in the past and confirmed to us that they would be clearing this rubbish,” he said.
“However, we were unable to get an estimated timeframe for when the rubbish would be removed. In the interest of community safety, and reducing further dumping, we are removing the rubbish on their behalf.”
Yarra Ranges Council said it received 1345 dumped rubbish requests over 2021-22 financial year on council-owned land, not including rubbish dumped on land under the jurisdiction of Parks Victoria, VicRoads, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Melbourne Water or Yarra Valley Water.
In a statement, the Department of Transport (DoT) said it sent a crew out on Friday 18 August to investigate the site, but the rubbish had been removed.
“Illegal dumping remains an ongoing challenge for both the Department of Transport and local councils. Our crews carry out regular maintenance inspections of the arterial road network, including around the Yarra Ranges to ensure it remains safe and clear of any hazards,” a DoT spokesperson said.
DoT also told the Star Mail Beenak Road is managed by the local council, while Gembrook-Launching Place Road is managed by the Department of Transport.
While the rubbish is now cleared, it’s a reminder to future dumpers that unlawful waste dumping can attract “significant penalities,” with infringements ranging from $363 to $1,817 for individuals, and $1,817 to $9,087 for businesses.
“It isn’t hard to responsibly dispose of your waste, when you illegally dump waste you are contributing to the degradation of our environment and costing taxpayers over $30 million each year in clean-up costs,” Forest Fire Management Victoria Yarra District Manager Nigel Brennan said.
“Typically we see more examples of rubbish dumping closer to built up areas, we are looking to work with communities to keep our forests clean and waste-free so that everyone can enjoy them. If anyone has any information about any illegal forest activity such as dumping waste, they should report it to us straight away at 136 186.”
Reports of illegal dumping can also be submitted to the Environment Protection Authority Victoria online at www.epa.vic.gov.au/report-pollution/reporting-pollution or via the pollution hotline on 1300 372 842.
