A new illegal dumping squad dedicated to investigating and identifying illegal dumpers in Sydney’s Inner West will hit the streets later this month.
Environment Minister, Rob Stokes, warned that dumpers in the inner-west are “in our sights.”
“Illegal dumping is a serious crime that has the potential to cause harm to both the environment and human health and it imposes unnecessary costs on land owners and local councils, with clean-up costs estimated at more than $10 million dollars a year,” he said.
The Inner West RID Squad would work across the council areas of Bankstown, Strathfield, Canterbury, Canada Bay, Ashfield and Auburn to identify and patrol well-known illegal dumping sites.
“The new squad will work closely with the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA) illegal dumping officers and will use a host of tools, including piloting CCTV monitoring of well-known illegal dumping hotspots,” explained Drummoyne MP, Mr John Sidoti.
The NSW Government recently announced a sweep of changes aimed at strengthening the EPA’s powers as the state’s environmental regulator.
The Chairman of the Inner West RID Squad Rod Sutcliffe said dumped rubbish continues to be one of the biggest concerns raised by local residents in the inner-west.
“It remains a blight in our urban environment and undermines our efforts to beautify and keep our city clean,” Mr Sutcliffe said.
“We are excited about the potential of the RID squad to be responsive in catching illegal dumpers and coordinate our efforts with our Council neighbors to keep our neighborhoods clean.”
New RID Squads are one of 21 actions in the EPA’s Illegal Dumping Strategy designed to target illegal dumping across NSW over the next three years in partnership with councils, communities, public land managers and the waste industry.
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