Rubbish Valley

By Kath Gannaway
RUBBISH dumpers are turning some of the Yarra Valley’s most prominent tourist roads into a tip and creating a potential fire threat.
This month, visitors stopping at Selover’s Lookout in Healesville to enjoy the view over Maroondah Dam were forced back into their cars by the stench of two bags of dumped fish carcasses.
And Yarra Valley restaurateur Gary Cooper took matters into his own hands last week when he and his staff cleaned up a huge pile of rubbish in Medhurst Lane in Gruyere.
The road is a popular route to some of the district’s most popular wineries.
Mr Cooper organised a trailer and enlisted the help of staff to get rid of the rubbish.
“It’s so disgusting, you couldn’t just leave it there,” said Mr Cooper, who runs Belle Vedere restaurant in Coldstream with business partner Tim Sawyer.
“I drive past and can see it from the road and that means other people can too,” he said.
Mr Cooper looked for something in the rubbish that might identify the dumper. It included household garbage, take-away containers, an oil-drum of unidentified liquid, furniture, batteries, old car parts and broken jars and bottles.
He was disgusted at the aesthetic vandalism, but also concerned at the potential injury to wildlife and, in the middle of a summer of fires raging across the state, the potential for broken glass to start a fire.
Gruyere farmer Bernie Seebeck said dumping has been an ongoing problem since Medhurst Road was re-aligned. The old section, he said, was relatively secluded, protecting people from being seen.
Mr Seebeck, who runs cattle on what are now tinder dry paddocks, said he, too, was concerned about the possibility of fire.
“People use it as a meeting place,” Mr Seebeck said.
“I was up here the other day and picked up a big bag of beer cans and bottles after someone had a party here.”
Mr Seebeck said he believes the only solution is to put up barrier at either end of the old road to stop entry.
Yarra Valley Visitor Information Centre co-ordinator Margaret Baker said roads and parks strewn with rubbish ruined the image the Yarra Valley wanted to present to the world.
“It’s an enormous task to keep on top of rubbish,” Ms Baker said.
“The shire has put a rubbish bin out the front of the centre here and people still don’t put rubbish in it.
“What is the mentality of people who do that?
Yarra Ranges Shire community relations officer Simone Ryan said record levels of rubbish had been taken to the shire’s tips around Christmas time.
“A lot of responsible people are doing the right thing and it’s very disappointing that some people are choosing to dump rubbish in this way.”
Ms Ryan said the shire received a lot of calls from people about rubbish and weeds being dumped.
She encouraged people to phone the shire so staff could remove the rubbish quickly and, where possible, investigate who might be responsible.