Illegal rubbish dumping is putting a strain in council services in the City of Port Phillip, with more CCTV cameras to catch the culprits heading a list of measures the council is considering to fix the problem

By LUKE MORTIMER

Port Phillip’s local laws division plans to install CCTV cameras in a bid to catch out illegal rubbish dumpers.

Local laws co-ordinator Ken Waixel is preparing a report for council recommending CCTV cameras be used in areas with a high-frequency of illegal dumping, but wouldn’t give a time frame for when the cameras should be installed.

“We’re currently developing a report to council to see if we can get some consensus on what we can do to get them [CCTV cameras] in, and under what conditions can we use them,” Waixel said.

“We have to make sure that our processes are squeaky clean and can be audited to ensure that the community has confidence that they are being used for the right purposes. We don’t like to do things against what the community will,” he said.

Mr Waixel cites a “high transient population” as the reason for the rubbish problem.

“There’s a number of areas that are continually monitored by us because we know that it happens on a regular basis. Some of the high rental areas are places that we frequent on a regular basis because of the number of complaints,” he said.

“It’s more the high density spots. One of areas at the moment is Alma Rd, but in a couple of months or over the year we’ll get on top of that. But it’ll reappear somewhere else where there’s a high turnover of tenants.”

Cameras would primarily be used to identify illegal rubbish dumpers, but police would also have the right to view footage if a serious crime takes place under the cameras watch.

Previous calls for CCTV cameras to monitor areas with a high prevalence of violent crime met with community resistance.

But civil rights group Liberty Victoria have backed the proposal, providing the use of the footage is clearly stipulated.

“If there is another purpose, there needs to be appropriate transparency,” the groups' vice president, Jamie Gardiner, said.

“The council has a legitimate purpose in relation to illegal rubbish dumping, which is a proper concern to council and illegal rubbish dumping is a violation of the human rights of citizens.

“Equally, the apprehension of perpetrators of serious crime is a very proper purpose. There has to be a process by which people know there’s going to be cameras, and there are appropriate controls on the use of the recordings that are made.”

Mr Gardiner qualified his support by saying council would “need to have proven they have considered all other options” before the plans are approved, and that the problem and its consequences were severe enough to warrant the use of the cameras.

Resident dirty about rubbish dumping

The plans come amid mounting community pressure for the council to do something to curb illegal dumping.

The current rubbish collection service has been criticised by residents for creating confusion about whether rubbish is there legally or not.

St Kilda resident Tom Wilson said it was difficult to make a report because “there is no way to identify the pile of rubbish as legal or illegal”.

“When I walk around St Kilda, the rubbish can sit on the side of the road for days or up to a week or two,” he said.

“How does someone know if the rubbish a person is placing on the sidewalk has already been booked in?”

Mr Waixel said a new sticker system, which helps residents identify whether a pile is there legally and is awaiting collection, should be active within three months.

“When you make an application you get a sticker, and you put the sticker on your rubbish straight away, so that people will know that you’ve booked it in,” he said.

Under the current system, residents are entitled to book four free hard collections a year, and receive an SMS a day prior to collection notifying them to place their rubbish out the front.

Mr Waixel said residents who placed their rubbish out before being notified were illegally dumping, and could be issued a $282 fine, but added it was more common for offenders to be punished by suspending their collection.

He also said wider use of the service had put a strain on resources available to council, and was behind a slow response time.

“It is often a matter of the type of rubbish and the available resources as to how long this rubbish remains before being collected,” he said.

“It can also be subject to investigation where the rubbish remains in situ for a period of time whilst an investigation is conducted.”

He said that, while the decision was being made on whetherh to add more CCTV cameras, the council would continue to work with local businesses that use already available CCTV surveillance to identify offenders.

“What we’ve been able to do is use cameras in businesses areas, and in industrial areas where there is a high-frequency of rubbish dumping,” he said.

“People are quite happy to hand over footage.”

But Mr Waixel wouldn’t hand over figures on reported incidences or prosecution.

Meanwhile, the director of Port Phillip EcoCentre, Neil Blake, warned that the issue was set to pose environmental challenges with population growth soaring in the Port Phillip area.

“Illegal dumping is a major environmental and financial cost to society which will only increase with greater human population and production of consumer items,” he said.

Issues include the cost of collection and disposal, threats to wildlife and the introduction of toxins into the ecosystem, he said.

For more information about CCTV surveillance in the Port Phillip area visit the Port Phillip council website or phone the Port Phillip coordinator of social planning Leo Kelly on (03) 9209 6777.