Management of clothing/e-waste bins on private land
Litter Enforcement Officer Network recommended response
Bins on private land where there is an agreement between the occupier/owner and clothing bin operator
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Common locations may include milk bars, petrol stations or shopping centres.
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Inspect the location.
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Contact the bin operator and landowner and explain that Council is receiving complaints about the waste next to bins. The solution may simply be for the bin operator to attend and maintain the bins/area more frequently. An increase in activity is consistent with summertime, public holidays and school holidays.
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Provide the bin operator some time to address the issues. If waste continues to be presented around the bins, the Litter Enforcement Officer determines if the bins should be removed.
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If the determination is that bins should be removed, enforcement action can be taken. The Litter Enforcement Officer can use the litter provisions within the Environment Protection Act 1970. The bin can be defined as a disorderly object and litter powers extend to private land, provided the land is within your municipality. Send a 45Y Notice under the Environment Protection Act 1970 to both the landowner and bin operator. The 45Y Notice will direct the landowner and bin operator to remove the bins and any residual waste. Ensure the issuing officer has delegated authority to use the Notice as the Notice is being sent by the Litter Authority.
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If the bins are not removed within the specified time, the Litter Enforcement Officer can issue infringement notices for breaching the 45Y Notice and arrange removal.
Bins on private land where there is no agreement between the occupier/owner and clothing bin operator
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Common locations may include vacant land or shopping centres.
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Inspect the location.
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Often the landowner is unaware of the placement of the bins.
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It is also common for multiple bin operators to have placed bins in the same location.
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Direct your main communication with the landowner (or representative such as a managing agent).
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The Litter Enforcement Officer can use the litter provisions within the Environment Protection Act 1970. The bin can be defined as a disorderly object and litter powers extend to private land, provided the land is within your municipality. Send a 45Y Notice under the Environment Protection Act 1970 to the landowner. The 45Y Notice will direct the landowner to remove the bins and any residual waste. Ensure the issuing officer has delegated authority to use the Notice as the Notice is being sent by the Litter Authority.
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The landowner can make attempts to contact the bin operators and demand removal or simply contact a scrap metal operator to collect the bins.
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If the bins are not removed within the specified time, the Litter Enforcement Officer can issue infringement notices for breaching the 45Y Notice and arrange removal.
Bins on VicTrack/Public Transport Victoria land
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The main approved operator is Southern Cross Recycling Group (SCRG). SCRG has a contract with Metro Trains to place and operate at several train stations throughout Melbourne and suburbs.
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Other bin operators also place their bins at train stations without agreement from Metro Trains.
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Contact Metro Trains by their website which will generate a reference number. Provide Metro Trains with information of the bin operator and waste issues. Explain to Metro Trains of their responsibility to manage the issue.
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If the issue is not being managed adequately, the Litter Enforcement Officer may determine that the bins need to be removed.
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Litter Enforcement Officer can use the litter provisions within the Environment Protection Act 1970. The bin can be defined as a disorderly object and litter powers extend to private land, provided the land is within your municipality. Send a 45Y Notice under the Environment Protection Act 1970 to Metro Trains. The 45Y Notice will direct Metro Trains to remove the bins and any residual waste. Ensure the issuing officer has delegated authority to use the Notice as the Notice is being sent by the Litter Authority.
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Metro Trains can make attempts to contact the bin operators and demand removal or simply contact a scrap metal operator to collect the bins.
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If the bins are not removed within the specified time, the Litter Enforcement Officer can issue infringement notices for breaching the 45Y Notice and arrange removal.
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Companies known to Litter Enforcement Officers placing bins on private land
Nation Wide Clothing Recyclers
Ozi Clothing Bin
SCR Group
Enviro-Recycling
Agri-Smico
Life Gate Inc | 0412 221 603
Work for the soul | 0404 524 885
Red nose goes green – SIDS AND KIDS | 8888 1622
Red nose clothing and recycling | 1300 473 366
Australia wide Recycling Services | 0438 368 477
Make the most of life Transplant Australia | 0498 396 458
How do LEON members respond?
Scale of Issue
26%
of Victorian Councils state clothing bin/e-waste bins as one their top 3 issues with illegal dumping
Who is held responsible?
100%
of Councils determine the landowner to be responsible
What action is taken?
When bins are located on private land, Councils take the following actions
General approaches described by members
Approach 1: Speaking with the landowner
Generally, we try speaking with the landowner to remove bins but usually the rubbish remains, and landowner is determined to be liable for cleanup. We can experience landowner push back and the issue can become political if the bins were placed without permission by the landowner.
Approach 2: Issue an abatement notice
We typically issue an abatement notice to provide the landowner incentive to remove the rubbish, and landowner is determined to be liable for cleanup. We are aware that the bins have a role in resource recovery in the community and this must be taken into account.
Approach 3: Local Laws – unsightly
The landowner can be pursued using unsightly local laws if litter is deposited. Local government act is used in cases with no compliance.
Approach 4: Focus on finding the bin owner
We focus on finding the bin owner using ASIC, then contacting property managers to clean up if not successful. Trespassing has been used if bin owner is identified and the bins were placed without the landowners permission.
Approach 5: Encourage relocation of bins
If the bins are related to a charitable store, encourage movement of the bins inside the store. If in public location local law is used to serve notices on charitable stores to force clean up.
Approach 6: Removal
Bins left on private or council property without permission should be removed and crushed.
Approach 7: Educate landowners on their responsibilities
Inform the landowners first and ensure they understand their responsibility, then issue with unsightly under local laws. Milk bars often have cameras so will take enforcement action where possible.
Approach 8: Impound bins and collect owner information
Impound bins and ensure a formal interview is conducted when the bin is collected to ensure adequate information of the owner in the future.
Approach 9: Educate landowners and provide an easy disposal options
Contact land owner and explain the easiest way to get the clothing bin picked up is to recommend they contact a scrap metal company. This works well if the bin was placed without permission.
Approach 10: Use of permits
We work together with permit holders to identify litter dumping hot spots throughout the municipality, when it comes to Clothing Bins. The permit holder is responsible for the installation of CCTV/surveillance cameras once a hot spot site has been identified. (With the permission of the land owner). The CCTV footage is filtered by the Clothing Bin company/permit holder and the footage supplied to Council for enforcement purposes. If litter/rubbish dumping continues to occur in a specific location where Clothing Bins are located/hot spot location, the permit for the site will be cancelled/revoked, and the site will no longer be available for future applications/use. The requirement still remains the responsibility of the Clothing Bin company/permit holder to remove all rubbish/litter which has been dumped outside of the Clothing Bins.
Approach 11: Contact the bin owner and landowner
When first attending a location with clothing bins on private property we try to establish if they have been given permission to place the bins there by the property owner (99% of the time this is not sought after). We contact the companies via the numbers on their bins to request removal of them, we also advise (if they haven’t been given permission) that they have trespassed and that we may forward their details to the police for follow up – this sometimes gets them into gear to remove their bins. Also at this stage we notify the property owner about the bins and issues surrounding them. It sometimes proves difficult as some numbers don’t work or they are not registered with ASIC or ACNC (Australian Charities non-for-profits Commission) – if this is the case we recommend the property owners immediately remove them at their cost or in some cases we direct them to remove the object under S45Y (Direction to remove disorderly object or thing) of the EP Act only if they unwilling to cooperate, as they are deemed responsible for the bin and rubbish from their land. If we are able to find business details via ASIC or ACNC we will issue a S45Y Notice from the EP Act to the bin providers to remove the bins from a property and request they restore the effected place to a state close as practical to the condition it was in prior of the bins being left there (such as remove all the rubbish) – we find this rare as most don’t have any information available other than a phone number on the bins which in some cases also doesn’t work. We work with property owners and managers where the bins appear and offer some insight into the business behind the companies, we also try to offer solutions to prevent them being left in the future – such as advising them to secure the property or install CCTV to deter. Though property owners will be responsible to clean or remove what appears on their land, Council will assist where we have the authority and knowledge to do so.