”How far do I have to go to find a public dump point?”
What is a fair price for caravanners and motorhomers to pay to use a dump point?
While many communities are embracing the potential for attracting more tourists by offering free facilities for the disposal of toilet waste … others are taking a very different approach.
In the Victorian grey nomad hotspot of Echuca, the town’s only public dump point is located within a council-run caravan park.
“The Echuca Holiday Park is a commercial enterprise and charges $15 (incl GST) for travellers not staying at the park to use the refuse dump point,” said Inger Coate, the Shire of Campaspe’s Commercial Operations Manager. “Proceeds from fees contribute to the operating cost of the service.”
Use of the dump point is free for people staying at the park.
Park manger Lawree Scott said the facility was well used by travellers passing through the area, or those who were free camping nearby.
“We do get the odd disgruntled customer, but people not staying here are generally pretty happy with the charge,” she told the GNT.
Ms Scott said the nearest free dump point was at Deniliquin, some 80km to the north.
The dump point drama is one that is being played out across the nation. In New South Wales, Wyong Council has just given the thumbs down to increasing its number of dump sites. It will instead further promote the location of existing sites. Northern Lakes Chamber of Commerce is extremely disappointed with the council’s stance, having argued that additional sites would have brought passing trade into the area.
Over in the west, Mike Archer, CEO of the City of Busselton has been forced to defend the city’s alleged lack of dump point facilities … claiming that there are five dump points across the municipality.
“Several caravan parks within the city offer dump facilities to registered guests and, for a small fee, caravanners in transit,” he said. “At Kookaburra Caravan Park, which is owned and operated by the city, caravanners can utilise two dump points for a fee of around $5 depending on the size of their water tank which they usually refill at the same time.”
