By Brendan Rees
An elderly resident has spoken of her disgust with the amount of litter piling up outside a Cranbourne East shopping centre, labelling the matter an “absolute disgrace.”
Sandra Roach said she was shocked by the amount of cigarette butts, takeaway rubbish, bottles and even used nappies left lying around the Hunt Club Village Shopping Centre – despite there being nearby bins.
Ms Roach, a resident of 50 years, says she picked up what she could but has called on Casey Council to employ more bylaws officers to patrol the area.“I am saddened and disgusted at the amount of litter I see every day when I walk,” she said.
Mr Roach, a Casey Australia Day Citizen of the year recipient in 2004, says she “used to be proud to live in Cranbourne, now I am angry and sad.
“I cannot imagine how anybody has the mentality to do that but they do,” she said.
“If I see someone throwing litter from a stationary car or moving car and I’m in a position to take a photo of the rego then I’ll do that and report back to the EPA – no hesitation at all.”
She added: “If you have takeaway how hard is it to take it home with you and put it in the bin.”
Casey Council’s manager of waste and landfill management, Michael Jansen said the shopping centre was on private land and not maintained by Council, “however Council’s Litter Prevention Officers have spoken with centre management about the problem and secured agreement from the centre to conduct regular maintenance of their car park and surrounding grassed areas.”
He said officers did a follow up inspection in late August and found the main area “well maintained and serviced with both rubbish and recycling bins.”
Mr Jansen said council also had a comprehensive waste and litter education program which included school visits and community events, including the Waste and Recycling Information Session held in August which was attended by more than 70 residents.
“Authorised officers are patrolling our municipality every day and will take enforcement action for litter related offences; however, Council relies heavily on residents to report littering and illegal dumping,” he said.
In the two months since 1 July 2018, council has issued 56 litter related infringements across Casey.
Meanwhile, Ms Roach says “every time we drop something it’s costing us money for someone to clean it up.”
She said she would like to think children were being educated in litter prevention programs in schools.
“We need to ensure kids from kinder on understand what littering does to our planet, adding “we need to turn our mentality around.”
To report litterers visit www.casey.vic.gov.au/litter.
