Illegal Dumping

Illegal Dumping Officer

Illegal dumping remains a significant and costly issue for our community. It degrades the environment, undermines public safety and amenity, and diverts scarce resources away from essential services.

Hume City Council has made substantial and sustained investments to address the widespread issue of littering and illegal dumping, including through: 

  • Establishment of a Waste Response Team: A dedicated team of officers tasked with reducing illegal dumping through education and compliance patrols, checking hard waste collections, engaging residents and businesses, and referring cases for investigation.  

  • Delivery of the Keep Hume Clean Campaign: A broad communications campaign operating across social media, print, and outdoor advertising to raise awareness, promote lawful disposal options, and to encourage community pride in keeping Hume clean,  

  • Improving access and uptake of free/low-cost lawful disposal options: Expanding free and low-cost services such as hard waste collections, tip vouchers, and recycling initiatives to reduce barriers for residents. 

  • Strengthening enforcement and compliance efforts: 
    Increasing staffing dedicated to illegal dumping investigations, deploying CCTV surveillance at hotspots, and conducting proactive patrols to deter offenders and improve detection. 

  • Research, development and practice improvement: Funding and delivery of a 2–year behaviour change study, delivered in partnership with the City of Whittlesea and BehaviourWorks (Monash University), identifying key drivers behind illegal dumping and evidenced-based strategies to prevent it. 

  • Clean-up and remediation: Responding to thousands of incidents annually, removing dumped rubbish from public land, and restoring affected sites to maintain community amenity and safety. 

Conservatively, the staffing, material, and resourcing costs borne by Council and its ratepayers for these activities are projected to exceed $8 million in 2025–26. These costs have risen year-on-year and will continue to escalate without additional support.  

Why is it important to the community? 

Illegal dumping undermines community pride, threatens public health and safety, destroys sensitive environments, and hits vulnerable neighbourhoods and growth corridors the hardest. 

Growth areas like Hume, with rapid urban development and vast open land, are prime targets. But this is not just a Hume problem; it is a State-wide crisis impacting councils across Victoria. Illegal dumping ignores municipal boundaries, and tackling it demands a coordinated, State-led response. 

Project outcome

  1. Provide dedicated State funding and subsidies to offset the increasing costs of clean-up, enforcement, and community education programs, ensuring councils can sustain proactive and responsive measures. 

  2. Introduce legislative and regulatory reforms that strengthen penalties, streamline enforcement processes, and enhance deterrence, making illegal dumping a high-risk, low-reward activity. 

  3. Facilitate enhanced collaboration between State agencies (particularly the EPA), local governments, and industry to develop consistent, statewide strategies and share resources, data, and best practices. 

  4. Invest in infrastructure and technology trials—including surveillance systems, smart sensors, and data analytics platforms—to enable councils to pilot innovative approaches that improve early detection, prevention, and evidence-based enforcement. 

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