By Tyler Wright
After concerns were raised ahead of local Anzac Day commemorations, rubbish illegally discarded on Gembrook’s Redwood Road – along the Avenue of Honour – is set to be cleared.
Gembrook RSL sub-branch president Norm Smith said he was worried the pile of hard rubbish, consisting of large pieces of disassembled furniture and a mattress, would still be there as people marched on Tuesday 25 April.
“It’s not a rubbish dump,” Mr Smith said.
Plaques commemorating World War One soldiers sat either side of the rubbish pile, with marchers expected to walk down the Avenue of Honour to Remembrance Park.
“We’re trying to get it cleaned up…we generally have a few here [on Anzac Day],” Mr Smith said.
In a statement given on Friday 14 April, Cardinia Shire Council’s manager of infrastructure services, Jacqui Kelly, said the council will arrange to have the pile of household hard waste removed within the week to avoid it impeding on planned Anzac Day activities.
“Council has a process in place for booking hard waste, and when this isn’t followed it can create further costs to ratepayers to remove the rubbish piles,” Ms Kelly said.
“More than 250 tonnes of illegally-dumped rubbish was removed from Cardinia Shire public land in the past 12 months at a cost to the ratepayers.”
The council is encouraging anyone with excess hard waste to book a hard rubbish collection, Ms Kelly said, with residents entitled to two free hard waste collections per year (up to 2m3).
“If you notice illegally-dumped waste, we are asking you to make contact with Council so that rubbish can be removed and our Litter Prevention Officer can investigate,” she said.
