Clean Streets

Council provides services to keep our streets clean such as street cleaning, public bins and graffiti removal.

We encourage you to do your bit to keep your neighbourhood beautiful.

Avoid illegal dumping

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.

Secure and Cover Your Load

All vehicles, inlcuding trucks, trailers and utes, travelling to any of Tamworth Regional Council's waste management facilities must have loads of rubbish and green waste correctly covered and secured.

Items blowing out or falling off vehicles are a hazard to other road users and could lead to accidents.  It also stops litter blowing out onto our verges and polluting our environment.

Fines for incorrectly covered and secured loads start at $750 for individuals and $1,500 for corporations.

For frequently asked questions and examples of how to correctly secure and cover your load, click here.

Return your bottles and cans

Return and Earn was introduced in 2017 and is the NSW Government’s largest ever litter reduction scheme. The initiative aims to reduce the estimated 160 million drink containers littered in our environment each year.

Eligible containers include most glass, can, plastic and paperboard drink containers sized from 150ml and 3 litres. Each eligible container provides a 10 cent refund which is provided as a voucher for store redemption, electronic transfer, cash or it may be donated to a community group.

Over the next 20 years, the Return and Earn scheme is expected to result in 1.6 billion fewer containers being littered into NSW’s environment and 12.6 billion more containers being recycled.

To find your nearest Return and Earn collection point, visit the Return and Earn website.

Safe Sharps Disposal

For safe disposal of needles and syringes, please refer to the following locations where you will find free, puncture-proof Community Sharps Bins:

• Council car park in Kable Avenue (adjacent to Hands of Fame Park)
• Council car park at rear of Robert Street Shopping Village (Petra Avenue entrance)
• Tamworth Base Hospital (located outside at the Tamworth Dental Centre)
• Tamworth Base Hospital (located car park Cnr Johnson Street and Dean Street)
• Tamworth Base Hospital (located loop road near car park Cnr Johnson Street and Smith Street)
• Tamworth Base Hospital (located the old emergency entrance)
• Tamworth Base Hospital (located at new emergency entrance)
• Coledale Community Centre (Kenny Drive)
• Granny Munro Park outside amenities building (park side), Warral Road, Tamworth
• Bryan Martin Park outside amenities building, Duri Road, Tamworth
• Tamworth Tip Small Vehicle Transfer Station, 123A Forest Road, Tamworth
• Manilla Rotary Park, Progress Lane near amenities, Manilla
  
  

All items must be placed in a puncture proof container with a lid on. Items MUST NOT be loose.

For more information on safe sharps disposal when you are travelling, please visit www.safesharps.org.au to find disposal locations near you, or to download the free app.

Don't dump my mattress

Tamworth Regional Council has teamed up with Mattress Recycle Australia to help keep mattresses out of our landfill.

When you bring your old mattress to the Tamworth tip you will be charged at the general waste rate or you can use your waste voucher.

We will then take your mattress and place it in a cage that is collected by Mattress Recycle Australia.

They then recycle your mattress and turn it into:

• Steel
• Mulch
• Process engineered fuel

For more information on Mattress Recycle Australia visit www.mattressrecycle.com.au

Bin your butts

Littered cigarette butts don't look good on our streets but also endanger animals and nature. Many butts that are thrown on the ground end up in our waterways or might be mistaken for food by animals. Put your cigarette butts into the bin or look out for butt bins that many bars, restaurants and public places offer for smokers.

Bin your gum

Old chewing gum don't just stick to our shoes but also aren't a good look on our footpaths and streets. Our street cleaning team is working hard to remove them. Please be considerate to others and throw your gum into the bin.

Unattended vehicles, animals and personal items

The Public Spaces Unattended Property laws create incentives for owners and others responsible to take responsibility for their property in public. Owners and others responsible must attend to their things within reasonable, timeframes or face regulatory action. 

If you are concerned about an unattended vehicle, livestock or another unattended item in a public space and want to make a report, please call Council’s customer service team on (02) 6767 5555.

There are a range of rules in place to follow in public spaces. 

New Rules for Sharing Services Infographic (PDF 286.1KB)

New Rules for Sharing Services Factsheet (PDF 2.3MB)

New Rules for Vehicles Infographic (PDF 321.4KB)

New Rules for Vehicles Factsheet (PDF 3.9MB)

New Rules for Personal Items Infographic  (PDF 215.4KB)

New Rules for Personal Items Factsheet (PDF 3.2MB)

New Rules for Animals Infographic (PDF 322.5KB)

New Rules for Animals Factsheet (PDF 322.5KB)