By Belinda Nolan
BRIMBANK Council throws more than half a million dollars in the bin every year cleaning up after careless litterbugs.
The council has spent a staggering $850,000 over the past financial year removing dumped rubbish and litter from the city’s streets, with a shocking $700,000 splurged on the problem this year alone.
The figures are up from $600,000 in 2009/2010 and $540,000 in 2008/2009.
The money is purely spent on cleaning up litter and does not include the costs of running the council’s other cleaning programs.
According to council figures, $850,000 could buy Brimbank in the order of 10,000 additional home care hours, or double the amount spent annually on library materials.
Brimbank CEO Nick Foa told Star rubbish dumping was a scourge on the community and the council was working hard to stamp out what he labelled a “never ending” problem.
“It is a large amount of money to be spending unnecessarily and I think if you asked anyone in the community they would agree that it’s unacceptable for people to dump rubbish on the streets,” Mr Foa said.
“I would much prefer to see that kind of money spent on other programs which would benefit the community, like our parks, home care program, street furniture or beautification programs.”
Between January 2008 and December last year the council collected $52,000 in fines from litterbugs, with officers issuing 228 infringements.
In 2010 council officers used video surveillance to catch one offender who had been dumping large amounts of rubbish in North Sunshine, with the case proceeding to the magistrates’ court.
The suburb’s industrial precinct remains a hotpot for large scale dumping while small scale littering is common in the Sunshine and St Albans shopping precincts.
The most common items dumped include general waste and building materials.
Stephen Sully, the council’s General Manager of City Development said the cleanliness and appearance of public places was a council priority.
He said the council had already established a Rapid Response Unit that is on call to respond to community calls to clean up syringes, dead animals and dumped rubbish.
He said the council also planned to introduce recycling bins in Sunshine and St Albans and had provided additional funding in its draft budget for graffiti removal.
Mr Foa said litter prevention was a community responsibility.
“Everyone in the community has a responsibility to work together to keep our streets and parks beautiful,” Mr Foa said.
