The state’s litter watchdog has called on Western Australians to continue to report incidents, after a 30-year-old Dawesville man pleaded guilty last week to dumping items including soiled nappies at a local service station.
The Keep Australia Beautiful Council of Western Australia (KABC WA) investigated camera surveillance, which captured Jamie Manns discarding a boot-load of items – including the nappies and other household waste, along with motor vehicle parts and empty spray cans – at a service station near Mandurah.
KABC WA Investigators identified Mr Manns through a vehicle licence plate, shown in the footage taken in November last year.
Mandurah Magistrates Court ordered Mr Manns to pay a $500 fine, along with $278 in costs.
KABC WA Chair Michael Aspinall said the outcome showed members of the public could be caught littering at any time.
“I’d like to thank the service station for providing us with the surveillance vision of this
incident, which allowed our investigators to identify the offender and take action,” Mr Aspinall said.
“The fact that we’ve got people dumping items like nappies in our State means it’s crucial that the community works with us to tackle this behaviour.
“I’d like to encourage people to report any instances of littering to us, as we will continue to bring people to account.”
2015/16 has already seen 2494 littering reports made to KABC WA – which have resulted in nearly 2400 littering infringements totalling $333,417, and one prosecution case is now before the courts.
In 2014/2015, 4384 reports of littering were made to KABC WA, which issued nearly 4000 littering infringements, totalling $701,212.
Maximum penalties for littering are $5000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations.
Litter reports can be made to KABC WA’s Litter Hotline on 1300 00 7376 or by logging onto kabc.wa.gov.au/report-littering.
