Here we go again: Kalimna Park is under attack from rubbish dumpers, and the target area is one that seems to be a favourite: the side track near the Bicentennial plaque, opposite Kalimna Point.
Rubbish strewn over the track opposite Kalimna Point. A couch has been pushed into the bush nearby. This track has to be frequently cleaned by Parks Victoria, at the taxpayers’ expense.
FOBIF has lobbied the Mount Alexander Shire in the past to make rubbish dumping less attractive by making legal rubbish disposal easier–and we weren’t the only ones. Unfortunately the result has been, no go: the usual response being that free tipping, or a hard rubbish collection, or free disposal of green waste, are all too expensive.
Now the shire council is looking at the problem afresh, with its Waste and Resource Recovery Plan 2016-2020. This will be drawn up by a reference group, which will consider, among other things ‘community attitudes on waste, recycling and resource recovery, including green waste, organics and hard rubbish collection.’ You can have your say on the matter here,. Submissions close on May 2.
Illegal dumping costs the shire, so maybe some of the ideas regularly put to it ]about tipping concessions, and so on] would be cheaper than the current situation. It would certainly save money for Parks Victoria [that is, the taxpayer], which has to regularly clean up rubbish dumps in the bush. In the case of Kalimna, maybe Parks could consider closing off tracks which are obvious targets for dumping.
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
This rubbish appears to be the aftermath of irresponsible partying. Do you really think that free tipping, hard rubbish collection, or free disposal of green waste will change this behaviour?
These changes are a way of rewarding those that don’t care about the environment in the first place, but little reward to those who do. They already go to the trouble of doing the right thing.
Perhaps a response to reports of this behaviour (often heard by residents adjacent to Kalimna) is what is required.
You’re right about the rubbish in the picture, Ross–but the couch dumped up near the bicentennial plaque doesn’t seem to be part of the ‘party’ stuff. Maybe a lesson on this is that easy vehicle pullover areas seem to be magnets for ‘irresponsible partying,’ as well as straight out rubbish dumping.
Do the proposed solutions to the dumping problem favour the lazy and the irresponsible? Maybe–but is there a better way?
A look when you zoom up the image appears to show a local fast food shop, so just gather it all up and take the rubbish back to them.Then they can pay to dispose of it not us. They have to take some responsibility for where their packaging ends up. It is not uncommon for piles of discarded food and drink containers from them appearing at more places around the bush and roadsides than Kalimna.