Illegal dumpling is disposing of waste, larger than litter, onto land or into water. This can vary from dumping a bag of household rubbish to larger scale dumping of commercial waste. Illegal dumping also includes illegal land filling, which is where waste is used as fill with the consent of the land owner but without the necessary Council or EPA approvals.
To find our more about illegal dumping, visit The NSW Environment Protection Authority’s page on illegal dumping.
What happens to those get caught dumping waste illegally?
The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO) provides a tiered range of illegal dumping offence provisions/fines. They are:
- Tier 3 – Offences where an on-the-spot fine is issued:
- Up to $7500 on-the-spot fine for individuals, if issued by the EPA ($4000 otherwise)
- Up to $15,000 on-the-spot fine for corporations, if issued by the EPA ($8000 otherwise)
- Tier 2 - Strict liability waste dumping offences
- Maximum penalty for an individual: $250,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, a further daily penalty of $60,000
- Maximum penalty for a corporation: $1,000,000 and in the case of a continuing offence, a further daily penalty of $120,000
- Tier 1 - Wilful or negligent disposal of waste causing actual or likely harm to the environment:
- Maximum penalty for an individual: $1,000,000 and/or 7-year prison sentence for wilful offences; $500,000 and/or 4 year prison sentence for negligent offences
- Maximum penalty for a corporation: $5,000,000 for wilful offences; $2,000,000 for negligent offences
Increased penalties
Recent amendments to the POEO Act increased penalties for illegal dumping including:
- Vehicles used in repeat illegal dumping offences can be seized, and if the offender is convicted the vehicle can be forfeited.
- Repeat offenders can receive prison sentences of up to two years.
- A person knowingly supplying false and misleading information in the course of dealing with waste can receive a fine of up to $500,000 for a corporation; or $240,000 and/or an 18 month prison sentence for an individual.
- The offender can be required to re-pay any monetary benefit obtained as a result of the offence as an additional penalty.
What are the other costs of illegal dumping?
Illegal dumping refers to any kind of waste material that is disposed of inappropriately. This includes general household rubbish, larger items such as old furniture, organic garden material, hazardous waste and abandoned vehicles.
Some of the many costs associated with illegal dumping include:
- Environmental costs – degrading soil and animal habitats, runoff contaminating soil and water sources including drinking supplies, increased risk of fires from spontaneous combustion or arson, just to name a few
- Social costs – reduces the aesthetic of amenity, physical and chemical hazards, dump sites attract rodents and vermin, dump sites attract further dumping and other criminal activities, and the thousands of volunteer hours spent participating in clean up initiatives such as Clean Up Australia Day
- Financial cost – NSW Local Governments are estimated to spend around $10 million a year, not to mention the community costs of lower property prices
For further information on illegal dumping please visit the NSW Environmental Protection Authority.