Did You Know The EPA Is Watching Your Illegal Dumping?

Did You Know The EPA Is Watching Your Illegal Dumping?

Dec 06, 2018

Illegal dumping has a detrimental impact on the environment and puts human health and local communities at risk. Does this mean that people have stopped doing it? Unfortunately, not.

Illegal dumping is still prevalent, and many Australian companies are still disposing of waste (usually hazardous) on private or public land unauthorised to accept it. While most businesses know that it’s a criminal offence to unlawfully dump, bury or set alight industrial waste, more than 350,000 tonnes of industrial waste such as concrete, timber, and asbestos, are still illegally dumped throughout Victoria. If you happen to be one of the culprits, you should be aware that the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has launched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program – and that it could catch you out very soon.

• The Role Of The EPA In Illegal Dumping

Victoria’s EPA is an authoritative body that regulates environmental protection to reduce the detrimental costs and effects of pollution and waste. There are many ways this is achieved, through educating the community about the harmful impact of illegal dumping and holding offenders to account through the issuing of fines.

• UAVs – The Latest Watchdog Of The EPA

The UAV program makes use of drones to enhance the visibility of hard-to-get-to areas. These significant additions to the environmental enforcement toolkit help officers conduct more thorough investigations, helping them to detect concealed or remote dump sites.

These drones can be equipped with a range of attachments to help to investigate officers make more accurate calculations on the volume of waste material on a site. They can also detect problem areas in landfills through thermal imaging capabilities and manage air and water sampling at the same time.

The EPA does have to comply with a set of restrictions set out by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority with the flight of the drones. These restrictions include a ban on flying over a ‘populous area’ and a restriction on flying closer than 15 metres to people.

The biggest thing to consider here if you are illegally dumping is that you could be watched as you do it, which is why you’re better off disposing of it responsibly by getting in touch with a reputable waste management company. Contact us today and we’ll sort all your waste needs so that you’re not getting in trouble with the authorities.