What is it with some people in the Southern Highlands? They live surrounded by beautiful scenery, creeks, clifflines, and waterfalls - places which we are so lucky to live near to. The first shot is of the wild coastal escarpment as viewed from the Powerlines at Mount Murray, overlooking Macquarie Pass - a mere 5 Kilometres from Robertson. Wild and wonderful country.
A few metres away, underneath the Powerline stanchion - this is the situation. Some people choose to use these natural features as rubbish dumps.
Do you recognise any of the furniture in this pile? (click on the image to enlarge it).
Two red chairs, a white chair, a blue sofa, a floral divan bed, and a wooden framed bed and mattress, two loud speaker boxes, a box of assorted cutlery, piles of clothes and then bottles and general rubbish as well.
A few metres away, underneath the Powerline stanchion - this is the situation. Some people choose to use these natural features as rubbish dumps.
Do you recognise any of the furniture in this pile? (click on the image to enlarge it).Two red chairs, a white chair, a blue sofa, a floral divan bed, and a wooden framed bed and mattress, two loud speaker boxes, a box of assorted cutlery, piles of clothes and then bottles and general rubbish as well.
Someone must know who went out of their way to dump this material in this remote spot, over a very rough bush track, rather than take it to the Council's waste management facility. People who treat the bush like this do not deserve to live in such beautiful surroundings.
Wake up, Australia. This is a disgrace.
It will take a mind-shift before our fellow Australians learn to do better than this. Clean Up Australia is on the right track, but when you see evidence like this, you realise just how far we still have to go.
It will take a mind-shift before our fellow Australians learn to do better than this. Clean Up Australia is on the right track, but when you see evidence like this, you realise just how far we still have to go.
*****
Post-script:
The above story was published today in the Southern Highland News. I received a call this morning, from the Wingecarribee Shire Council's clean-up officer*** Vince Emmerick. He had read the story and gone out to the site to inspect it. He started by checking through the dumped furniture and goods looking for any identifying details. Presumably his next task will be to arrange to get the rubbish cleared away. Let's hope so - though with the access being as difficult as it is, at that spot, he will have a big job.
Anyway, it is good to know that Vince is on the case.
*** Regional Illegal Dumping Squad - though I am not sure that Vince has many members in his "squad".
Illegal dumping of rubbish can be reported to the Council on 4868 0504
The above story was published today in the Southern Highland News. I received a call this morning, from the Wingecarribee Shire Council's clean-up officer*** Vince Emmerick. He had read the story and gone out to the site to inspect it. He started by checking through the dumped furniture and goods looking for any identifying details. Presumably his next task will be to arrange to get the rubbish cleared away. Let's hope so - though with the access being as difficult as it is, at that spot, he will have a big job.
Anyway, it is good to know that Vince is on the case.
*** Regional Illegal Dumping Squad - though I am not sure that Vince has many members in his "squad".
Illegal dumping of rubbish can be reported to the Council on 4868 0504
4 comments:
Thanks Denis - I kept meaning to take a picture of the 'Mad Max' car on MacQuarie Pass to post here.
It's a recently abandoned car that somebody stripped, painted camo, and welded all kinds of appendages onto. It literally looks straight out of a Mad Max movie. And very much out of place in the Illawarra rain forest. I mean if you're gonna' go through all that trouble to dress up a car to dump, you should walk away from it in the Northern Territory.
The perpetrators of such crimes and appalling acts of selfishness and disregard are, unfortunately, everywhere.
And it's not just the bulk trailer loads of rubbish that are the problem. It's also all the food wrappers and containers that are thoughtlessly discarded from moving vehicles that are a big problem in this area.
Ever since I found a small skink trapped in a plastic disposable drink cup, I have made a point of cleaning up after others (the skink appeared as if it had shed its tail and eaten it to survive).
I now do regular rubbish pick ups on my walks on the rural road where I live, knowing that bottles, cans and containers can be death traps for small creatures - besides the unsightly mess of accumulated garbage.
But I can relate to the feeling of sheer disbelief and dismay at finding such a load of rubbish dumped in remote locations, making the clean up a huge and costly exercise.
grrrr !!
Gaye
Hi Mike, and Gaye
Mike, I have not seen the Mad Max special you mention. Maybe it has been removed. The worst thing with cars is they burn so well, and people love to burn them in the bush, which can easily cause a bushfire. There are cars all round the Southern Highlands, and below cliffs. Very scary when you think about who puts them there, and why (i.e., stolen cars).
Gaye,
I agree with you about the small things. The local WIRES people say that drink cans are some of the worst, as snakes poke their heads inside (looking for insects and frogs, probably) and get stuck because of their scales all pointing backwards, catching on the edge of the tin.
This particular effort was so bad I could not help take photos "in anger".
Cheers to both of you.
Denis
It's about 1.5 - 2.0 kilos down MacQuerie Pass on the left side of the road, and was still there yesterday. Been there for a few weeks now. I just can't seem to remember to grab a camera before my morning drive. Perhaps I will remember next week because of the photo contest...
The fact that the lights have been removed, the body painted, and weird stuff welded onto it - then abandoned, I'm pretty certain it's what we call a chop-shop car in the states (stolen and stripped).
Hopefully somebody will remove it soon, but it will involve time and money so it's easy to see why it hasn't happened yet.
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