Over two days this week, EPA Victoria along with Metropolitan Waste Management
Group (MWMG), Sustainability Victoria (SV), Dandenong City Council and
Melbourne City Council are delivering illegal dumping enforcement training for
council officers from across the state.
Councils Officers can be authorized and delegated powers under the Environment
Protection Act 1970 to assist in the management of litter and illegal dumping.
The training will provide support for council officers to use these powers in
addition to developing a better understanding of the tools and networks
provided by Sustainability Victoria and Metropolitan Waste Management Group.
The training combines EPA Victoria’s Small Scale Illegal Dumping (SSID) and
Illegal Dumping Strike Force (IDSF) programs – under Chapter 8 (Reducing
Illegal Dumping and Littering) in the Getting Full Value: The Victorian Waste
and Resource Recovery Policy 2013 and aims to:
· Develop council officer capacity to identify, remedy and/or sanction illegal
dumping activity (small to medium scale);
· Demonstrate approaches for council and EPA to work together to remedy and/or
sanction large scale illegal dumping activity;
· Provide an overview of tools and approaches to measure illegal dumping
activity; and
· Share approaches from different councils regarding illegal dumping prevention
and intervention techniques
EPA CEO John Merritt said that it’s important that EPA is working with its key
partners – SV and MWMG, to deal with the breadth of enforcement issues around
illegal dumping.
“Educating our local government partners allows them to know what tools are
available, when to use them and how they apply in the illegal dumping space and
means we can all work better, smarter and faster in tackling these issues
together,” Mr Merritt said.
Councils include:
Brimbank, Bendigo, Casey, Dandenong, Darebin, East Gippsland, Geelong, Hume,
Maribyrnong, Mornington Peninsula, Melton, Melbourne, Monash, Stonnington, and
Wellington Shire.
ENDS.