Most grey nomads will be all too familiar with the sight of rubbish dumped in otherwise pristine spots in national parks and state forests.
Sometimes, of course, crushed beer cans and broken campchairs make renegade campers the prime suspects … but that’s certainly not always the case.
In the north Queenland town of Townsville, for example, a man has just received a hefty fine for unlawfully dumping items, included air-conditioning units, empty boxes and other general waste, in bushland in the Townsville Town Common Conservation Park.
Interestingly, it was the use of remote cameras in the park that led to the man being caught.
No one thought campers were responsible for this rubbish dumped in Townsville. PIC: DETSI
The cameras captured a ute with rubbish in the tray entering the conservation park back in March. The vehicle was later pictured leaving the conservation park with an empty tray.
Rangers from the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) then conducted a site inspection and discovered the dumped waste.
Executive Director Waste and Enforcement Jackie McKeay said officers from DETSI’s Litter and Illegal Dumping Compliance Operations issued a show cause notice to the driver of the vehicle.
“The man admitted that he dumped the waste in the conservation park, and he went back to clean it up,” Ms McKeay said. “He was issued with a Penalty Infringement Notice for $2,580.”
She said the fine was a reminder that remote cameras could be anywhere at any time.
“We take a zero-tolerance approach to illegal dumping, and we investigate every report we receive,” Ms McKeay said. “Unlawfully dumping waste is a pollution risk and a fire hazard, and it can harm our native animals.”
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Get a guts full of the overweight sloppy Ozzie bogan type that leave their camping rubbish at nice camping spots. I endeavour to clean up what I can These deadshits should be sterilised at birth
Truck driver was on talk back radio in Perth,
saying truck stops north in the kimberleys LIKE A PIG STYS
human waste all over the place
Hey easy Ron! We have found during our travels in a lot of cases that a great deal of the dumped rubbish is domestic rubbish and junk dumped by locals.
There has to be a solution and if heavy fines are the go then be it as long as the money goes back in maintaining the parks etc and not in the councils pocket.
We have done our fair share of caravanning and we make sure that our rubbish goes in the appropriate place and must admit we haven’t seen any other caravaner misuse there privileges but have witnessed on several occasions locals throwing out or/and dumping rubbish.
I expect with high tip fee costs it can be a costly experience for a family that cannot afford it and options should be available from councils for assistance but that shouldn’t give anyone the right to litter.
Ron,
I was a heavy vehicle escort warden for a while and found that truck drivers aren’t angels either.
Our wide loads could only be parked in certain areas due to their size.
The amount of rubbish at some of these sites was disgusting.
One of the other issues I noticed was the councils or main roads authorities in the area don’t provide waste disposal in most of these parking bays.
This includes adequate rest stop facilities. Toilets, tables and chairs with shade and fireplaces.