Culprit comes forward to explain amid outrage over 'grubby' act
The local worker was horrified when he spotted the scene in the bush.
A mum has been forced to apologise over a grubby act that upset hundreds of residents after piles of Christmas rubbish were discovered behind a building site.
In a series of images posted online, a local worker shamed those responsible for illegally dumping the trash in NSW, which featured Christmas wrapping paper, toy packaging and gift tags addressed to the children. The discovery was made behind an industrial estate in Morisset in the Lake Macquarie region on Monday when Brad Pusey returned to work.
“I was just shocked,” he told Yahoo News Australia. “The tip fees for that pile would be under $50 and there were enough present wrappers in there that told me they had some money, so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t have just dumped it at the tip.
Furious at the find in the bush, Brad hoped sharing the scene on Facebook would help track down the culprit. “I knew someone would have a rough idea who it was, as there were kids' names on the wrapping paper, in hope they got shamed and went to clean up their mess,” he said.
“Surely someone knows them!” the local worker wrote on Facebook. “Grubs.. How about being a decent human and go back and collect your Christmas rubbish”
“Absolutely putrid humans,” one person commented. “Bloody disgusting,” said another.
Mother comes clean
In a major twist, Brad’s call out reached its target on Tuesday when a mother of four stepped forward and responded to his post, but not all was as it seems.
“Hi guys, this is actually my family’s rubbish,” the woman wrote on Facebook. "My husband and I paid someone to take it to the tip, and we have just seen this post. We are beyond disgusted, hurt and upset.”
She went on to say the rubbish would be picked up that day. “We are very sorry to our community and we are not the kind of people who would do anything like this.”
But Brad’s not buying it. “I doubt that’s the truth though,” he said. “I told her to name and shame the company, but she said it was a family friend.”
‘Illegal dumping is unacceptable’
Each year, Lake Macquarie City Council receives more than 1,900 reports related to illegal dumping, according to a spokesperson, with about five per cent of those identified in the Morisset township.
“To combat illegal dumping, Council is an active member of the Regional Illegal Dumping program which sees dedicated personnel identify and investigate illegal dumping incidents, hotspots and take necessary enforcement against offenders,” they told Yahoo News Australia.
While individual penalties can include a $4,000 on-the-spot fine, corporations can face an $8,000 fine. For more severe and repeated cases, fines can reach up to $250,000 for individuals or $1,000,000 for corporations.
“Illegal dumping is unacceptable in Lake Macquarie and presents a substantial risk to the environment, biodiversity, and human health, whilst also costing over $300,000 annually to clean up,” the spokesperson explained. “We encourage the community to manage their waste appropriately and to report incidents of illegal dumping when identified.
“Information from the public such as photos, registration number or the name of a person or company is often the key in identifying dumpers.”
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