SO which would you rather pay: the fee for a trip to the tip or the fine of thousands of dollars for illegal rubbish dumping?
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Locals would be well aware of the local hot spots for those too lazy or too stingy to load up their garbage and take it out to the waste management centre where it can be disposed of properly.
There’s College Road on the way out to the tip, the dirt section of Gormans Hill Road on the way to the Lagoon Road and land around the former Vale Road stock selling centre.
All are notorious for hosting dumped rubbish.
Which is why Bathurst Regional Council’s new campaign – along with the NSW Environment Protection Authority and Roads and Maritime Services – to target the dumpers is welcome news.
And as today’s front page makes clear, not all the dumpers are local.
The Great Race brings enormous benefits to Bathurst when the hordes of racing fans descend on the city, but it also brings some problems.
And one of those problems is those who choose not to clean up after themselves.
Some race fans – and it is only some – show a complete disregard for the environment and, once the event is over, dump the old lounge chairs and other campsite items in Bathurst and surrounds before they hit the road to return home.
They also head out onto rural roads looking for firewood, and this scavenging is also illegal.
These dumpers give the rest of the race fans – who come to enjoy the race and enjoy the atmosphere, pumping money into the local economy while they treat the city with respect – a bad name.
Hopefully, the increased fines for dumping will give offenders pause as they pull their car to the side of the road and get out to unload their rubbish.
So is it worth it? Not any more, it’s not.