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Litter

Litter - its in your hands

Litter

Many people litter without even realising that they are doing it.

The most common type of litter in Australia is discarded cigarette butts, which can take up to 5 years to break down. Please place your cigarette butts in a bin. If you are in your car, don't throw your cigaratte butts out the window - put them in a bin when you get to your destination.

Placing advertising material under people’s windscreen wipers is also a form of littering.

Any litter which you don't place in a bin can end up in Willoughby’s five water catchment areas.

Fines for littering include:

  • $60 for small items such as bottle tops and stubbed out cigarettes.
  • $200 for general littering inlcuding lit cigarette butts or any item thrown from a vehicle.
  • $375 for dangerous littering, such as smashing bottles or discarding a lit cigarette during a total fire ban.
  • $750 for dumping items such as bags of rubbish, household appliance or furniture.

Litter is a problem for all Councils, but Willoughby is committed to providing a clean city for its residents and takes littering very seriously. Please care for the environment by putting your rubbish in the bin, and reporting those who don’t.

For more information on littering in New South Wales, please visit the Department of Environment and Climate Change.