Cade Lucas
A Mambourin resident claims he received death threats after confronting someone illegally dumping rubbish near his home.
David Hanley said the incident occurred earlier this month when he noticed a young man dumping waste near his Jarlath Drive home.
“I confronted somebody the other day and I’ve had death threats, and I’ve had everything thrown at me,” said Mr Hanley who reported the incident to police and also the company the young man was dumping the rubbish on behalf of.
“The owner of the business actually came back and apologise for the for this lout,” he said, preferring not to name the company involved.
Wyndham police have been contacted for comment.
It’s part of an ongoing battle Mr Hanley and other residents of new housing estates on Wyndham’s fringe are having with illegal rubbish dumping.
Vacant blocks and paddocks near new housing estates are popular targets for rubbish dumping, particularly waste from construction sites.
Mr Hanley, who moved to Mambourin Estate with his son just before Christmas, said the waste problem wasn’t confined to used building materials.
“People dumping stuff from houses instead of using their three tip vouchers or three hard waste collections. People are just dumping shit everwhere,” he said, adding that most of it occurrs after dark.
“They just drive up in the middle of the night throw it in the paddocks or on the nature strip or whenever.”
Mr Hanley accused Wyndham council of dragging its feet over the issue.
“I seem to be doing all the running around, the council aren’t doing nothing unless I really bitch about it.”
In response, Wyndham council said it took a zero tolerance approach to rubbish dumping.
“Each year Wyndham City spends thousands of dollars and hours collecting rubbish that has been illegally dumped – this is an unfair impost on all our residents, the majority of whom do the right thing,” said a council spokesperson.
“Illegal rubbish dumping is a significant and growing problem for councils. Wyndham has adopted a number of methods to try and reduce the amount of dumped waste. We have dedicated waste education officers who aim to educate the community about their options for removing waste, and we offer three hard rubbish collections per household, per year.”
The spokesperson for Wyndham council also said tip vouchers were provided to ratepayers via their annual rates notice.
