Queenslanders who flout the state's tough new waste laws by dumping their rubbish in parks and creeks or throwing litter from their car windows can now expect to be dobbed in on-line and hit with significant penalties.
Member for Kallangur, Mary-Anne O'Neill said the government would launch a new campaign aimed at informing Queenslanders about the new on-line notification system and associated penalties, which come into effect on 1 December this year.
“I encourage the Moreton Bay community to keep an eye out and dob in a litterbug," Ms O'Neill said
"From this week, anyone who witnesses a person littering or illegally dumping waste from a vehicle, trailer or vessel can record the details of the incident and submit a report online through the www.derm.qld.gov.au/waste website.
“We will give Queenslanders time to adjust to the new scheme by issuing advisory statements to offenders until the end of the year.
"But from 1 February next year, infringement notices from $300 up to $3,000 can be issued for all littering and from $4,000 to $16,500 for illegal dumping.
"I think the community has had enough of people who can't be bothered doing the right thing with litter and commercial waste.
"No one has the right to use our community spaces as personal dumping grounds and this new system gives Queenslanders the chance to play a role in reporting incidents of littering and illegal dumping."
Mary-Anne said it was alarming that even after decades of anti-littering campaigns, Keep Australia Beautiful's 2011 National Litter Index still ranked Queensland as the most littered mainland state.
"It needs to stop. We need to take action and now, for the first time in our state's history, members of the public have an easy way to report littering and illegal dumping.
"It's the kind of thing that will make people think twice before they throw their cigarette butts and food wrappers from their car windows."
The new online public reporting system has just come into effect ahead of National Recycling Week (7 and 13 November).
As part of the Waste and Recycling Act - which comes into effect on 1 December - the new legislation gives the government the authority to issue Penalty Infringement Notices based on public reports.
As a deterrent against false or vexatious reporting, people reporting littering or dumping activity will be asked whether they know the litterer and will also have to give an assurance that they may have to give evidence in court.
Mary-Anne said Queenslanders would be given the chance soon to hear about the new laws through a promotional campaign in partnership with Keep Australia Beautiful which will start this week.
"Queenslanders will hear the campaign on radio, see it in community papers, outdoors, on buses and online.
"Members of the community regularly tell government about their frustration at not being able to do anything about those people who ruin our clean and green surroundings.
"And littering and illegal dumping costs millions every year to clean up.
"Importantly, as we embark upon National Recycling Week, if an item is just thrown away it becomes a lost resource, going to landfill instead of being recovered and recycled."
Information about the new scheme and details on how to report a littering or illegal dumping is available online at www.derm.qld.gov.au/waste
