If you can't beat the dumpers, at least beat them to it.
That seems to be Wollongong City Council's latest approach to stopping illegal dumping of rubbish by the roadside.
At bushland spots along the Old Princes Highway from Bulli Tops almost to Waterfall, piles of fill and construction waste have been appearing over the past month, some containing chunks of concrete, tar and pipes as well as dirt.
More recently they have been pushed into a row and covered up with mulch, in locations, including on the side of the road through the Heathcote National Park and water catchment Special Areas.
Stanwell Tops resident Warwick Ervin said that after noticing the number of piles growing, he called Wollongong City Council and was shocked to be told it was their doing.
"I reported it - the next morning an enforcement officer called and said it was council creating 'windrows' to block dumpers," Mr Ervin said on Wednesday. "There was tar, painted wood, plastic ag pipe. Some of it was that fresh that in the heat yesterday the tar broke off."
Mr Ervin said as well as the environmental concerns, he was worried the mounds would be a hazard to drivers, as they were harder than the bush if a car left the road.
But council seems quite proud of its strategy, which it says has been ticked off environmentally.
The Environment Protection Authority said any dumping of fill or waste in a location that was not an approved landfill was illegal dumping, for which there were big penalties.
"Illegal dumping is an environmental crime and the EPA is obviously concerned about these allegations," a spokeswoman said.
But as for whether this case was actually illegal dumping, the EPA said it would need to investigate the circumstances and speak with the council.
The council says it had already cleared its plans with the EPA, Sydney Water and National Parks.
"The majority of these mounds along the Old Princes Hwy between Sublime Point and Waterfall are made of clean fill that has been taken from council-generated construction work, such as where we're building footpaths or a new car park," a council spokeswoman said.
"There are two sites where illegally dumped material was covered over by clean fill from council. Both of these sites were investigated by council for contaminants before the clean fill was placed over the dumped concrete, green waste and metal items, which do not pose an environmental threat."
The council said the scheme worked to deter dumpers.
"Council has trialled the planted soil mounds for at least three years across our Local Government Area with great success," it said.
There had been a large reduction of illegal waste dumping where these mounds had been placed.
What do you think needs to be done to fix the problem?
