Illegal Dumping in Lane Cove: What the Numbers Say and How to Report It

Illegal dumping isn’t someone else’s problem. That’s the message from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

In Lane Cove we know dumping is a problem. In June last year Blackman Park became a dumping ground (see our cover photo). Then there were the large nang canisters dumped around Mindarie Park and Stringybark Creek. Dumping has also led to charity bins being removed from around Lane Cove.

The Illegal Dumping Research Report 2025 found that 98% of NSW councils report illegal dumping as an issue in their area, with one in seven spending more than $500,000 a year on clean-up and enforcement.

Closer to home, Lane Cove Council’s monthly Council Snapshot shows that in August 2026 alone, monitoring found 10 instances of illegal dumping, all of which Council removed at its own cost (and ultimately ratepayers’).

What the EPA found

The EPA runs statewide research on illegal dumping roughly every five years. The 2025 report compares results with the previous round in 2019, and there is some good news:

• Awareness that kerbside dumping is illegal has risen from 48% to 75%.
• Kerbside dumping by community members has halved, from 20% to 10%. For businesses, it fell from 17% to 10%.
• Overall illegal dumping by community members dropped from 22% to 13%, although it remained steady at 26% among businesses.

Bulky household items remain the most dumped material, and kerbsides, roadsides and bushland are the worst hotspots.

Ms Geddes cautioned that illegal dumping remains a widespread problem, costing councils, communities and the environment hundreds of millions of dollars every year. The findings will inform the next NSW Illegal Dumping Prevention Strategy.

Illegal dumping in Lane Cove

Lane Cove Council reports on illegal dumping each month in its Council Snapshot, which is attached to the agenda for the following month’s Council meeting. Here is what the snapshots show from December 2025 to August 2026.

Source: Lane Cove Council, monthly Council Snapshot reports (Council meeting agendas). In each month reported, all dumped items were removed at cost to Council.

Over those nine months, Council recorded 76 instances of illegal dumping. Dumping peaked in February, with 18 instances, following 13 in December over the Christmas period. Numbers then fell to a low of two in April before climbing again, reaching 10 in both July and August.

As mentioned above, dumping has been a recurring issue locally. In 2025, residents raised repeated dumping at Blackman Park, and Council considered a Notice of Motion on abandoned watercraft and illegal dumping at Dunois Reserve, Longueville. In January 2026, the recycling trailer at The Canopy was removed after it constantly overflowed and items were dumped around it.

Lane Cove has turned the tide before. Lane Cove Council’s behaviour change program targeting apartment blocks, which included tagging dump sites so owners knew they had been noticed, delivered an 85% reduction in kerbside dumping in targeted areas by May 2017. In 2015, before the program, Council spent over $16,000 cleaning up 254 kerbside dumping incidents.

Got unwanted items? Do it the right way

Lane Cove households get four free Council clean-ups a year. Book online or call 1300 655 006. A few rules to keep in mind:

• A maximum of 3 cubic metres can be collected per booking, and individual items must weigh less than 90kg.
• Put items out no earlier than the evening before your booked collection. Items placed out earlier could attract a fine.
• Items that aren’t accepted, or anything over the limit, will not be collected and will be investigated as illegal dumping.
• Paint, chemicals, gas bottles, car batteries, tyres and building materials are not accepted.

Before you book, consider whether your items could be sold, donated or repaired. Clean-up items have a low recycling rate. Problem waste such as paint, batteries and gas bottles can be recycled at the Artarmon Community Recycling Centre.

How to report illegal dumping

If you see dumped rubbish or witness someone dumping, you can report it two ways.

To Lane Cove Council: Call 9911 3555 or use Council’s online services and select “Report Illegal Dumping”.

To the EPA via RID Online: The Report Illegal Dumping (RID) Online portal lets you upload a photo, pin the location and describe the waste. Reports are passed to the relevant council or land manager.

If you witness dumping in progress, don’t confront anyone. Instead, note:

• the date, time and location
• the vehicle registration, make and model
• a description of the person
• a photo of the dumped waste, if it’s safe to take one.

Reports help councils and the EPA identify dumpers, clean up waste and target hotspots.

The penalties

In April 2024, the NSW Government increased maximum penalties for the most serious illegal dumping offences to $500,000 for individuals and $2 million for corporations. The EPA has also handed out more than $2.83 million in grants since 2022 to help councils and regional waste groups tackle the problem.