Push for ‘dobbing in a dumper’ campaign to reduce rubbishing
A call for information by Councillor Ned Attie on the number of staff and details of the resources allocated to cleaning, street sweeping and verge mowing, found unanimous support.,
Showing a series of 46 photographs, mainly of abandoned shopping trolleys, he said the council also needed a strategy to better manage the issue with “more shopping trolleys in streets than there are in the shopping centre right now”.
After covertly watching one council cleaning crew range from Auburn, South Granville, Merrylands and Wentworthville over the course of a day recently, Cr Attie said was amazed by how hard they worked.
He also asked for “a draft service model to evenly distribute cleaning staff and crews across the LGA according to need” as well as “the cost implications for increasing the required resources” to meet community expectations.
Acknowledging that recent understaffing was being addressed, Cr Glenn Elmore said it was important to identify where the rubbish was coming from.
Also noting the need for more prevention measures, Cr George Campbell said while fines were not necessarily a deterrent for those who illegally dumped rubbish because they didn’t think they would be caught, a campaign advertising rewards for “dobbing in a dumper” might be more effective.
General manager Hamish McNulty said the council had already allocated an additional $1m in resources but warned that any extra spending on cleaning would have to be found by cuts elsewhere.
However he also noted that if the Save our Recycling campaign which the council recently signed up to was successful, there might be more funds available for education programs.
