The Victorian Conservation Regulator says commercial operator likely to blame for mass illegal tyre dumping
More than 150 tyres were recently discovered dumped in the nature reserve on Monmouth Road, south of Ballarat, Victoria, by a member of the public.
Weeks later, the tyres remain in-situ as the OCR has not been able to clean up the tyres, citing resourcing issues.
“We also wanted to amalgamate that with some other dumping that was occurring in the area,” said OCR programme manager for the Grampians region Don Coutts said.
“It’s very unusual… we haven’t had any reports or discovered tyre dumps of this scale over the last few years.”
Coutts said the regulator was operating under the theory that a commercial operator has dumped the tyres.
“It could be someone who has been tasked with disposing of the tyres, and they potentially are trying to evade … disposal fees through legitimate means,” he said.
Coutts said the regulator was very concerned about the environmental hazard.
“The tyres can leech toxins into the soil and into the waterways,” he said.
“If we have a fire in the area, and we haven’t yet had a chance to clean up those tyres, it’s very difficult to put out a fire with the amount of tyres like that with normal firefighting resources.
Source: ABC News
