By ANEEKA SIMONIS
A COCKATOO man has slammed Cardinia Shire Council for failing to pick up a highly flammable oil container that was dumped and left on his property for months during bushfire season.
Bruce Williams said the 20-litre drum of crude oil, which he likened to an “explosive bomb”, was illegally dumped on his property during the hard rubbish collection period more than two months back in November.
Despite many attempts to have council remove the oil drum, Bruce said the flammable material remained on his block – causing him great unease during the January heatwave.
“It’s fire season. If a fire started here, the fire just wouldn’t stop and this oil wouldn’t help,” Bruce said prior to council removing the drum late last month.
“It’s been sitting out in the sun in more than 30 degree heat. It’s putting everyone’s safety at risk. It’s just like an explosive bomb sitting there.”
Bruce contacted council on several occasions to remove the oil drum, which he claimed had leaked around 200 millilitres onto the surrounding land, over the two-month period but got nowhere.
“They couldn’t care less,” he said.
In a statement released on Tuesday 20 January, Council’s Operations manager Charles Taveira said staff inspected the dumped container and found “it did not present an immediate risk to the community”.
The container was placed onto council’s dumped rubbish collection program where it was picked up overnight. Mr Taveira said council pick-ups are prioritised according to community safety and amenity and could be an expensive exercise.
“Illegal dumping is an ongoing and costly problem for Cardinia Shire and local government areas around Victoria; the rubbish is expensive to remove and difficult to budget for,” he said.
“Unfortunately, council has limited resources to collect dumped rubbish and staff have to be removed from normal roles to attend to these issues. The time and money spent on cleaning up this waste could be better used around the shire to the benefit of residents.”
According to council’s Community Compass service, hard waste collection was scheduled for Bruce’s property on Monday 17 November.
He claimed the oil drum was dumped on his property three days later on Thursday 20 November.
Council said those found to be responsible for illegal dumping had been prosecuted in the past. Anyone with information about illegally dumped rubbish should contact council on 1300 787 624.
