By Jessica Anstice
An Officer resident was left feeling “absolutely mortified” when she discovered her hard rubbish pile had been disturbed and completely strewn across her front yard and nature strip.
While it’s common and usually welcomed for people to search through hard rubbish and salvage items otherwise destined for landfill, it’s not appreciated when a neatly organised pile is left trashed.
Markbeech Crescent resident Nicole Anne orderly placed her hard rubbish on her front lawn on Sunday 26 July, ready for collection the following day.
At about 6.15pm, she received a call from her neighbours informing her that the pile of junk had been scattered everywhere.
“The way we left it met all of council requirements – it was neat and tidy. I should have taken a photo but who thinks anything like this would happen,” she explained.
“I was absolutely mortified! I think it’s fine if people want to turn items from trash to treasure although some respect should be shown when removing items and you should always leave it neat and tidy.
“I have never seen anyone’s hard rubbish in this state. I’m hesitant to take the hard rubbish route in future – I would prefer to hire a trailer and pay to tip it. It just made moving 10 times stressful than it needed to be.”
Ms Anne said she contacted the local police, however she was told it was an issue for Cardinia Shire Council.
CCTV footage led Ms Anne to suspect it was a man driving a white ute who lives nearby her.
“Ultimately actions like this should result in a monetary fine, it’s morally wrong to deliberately vandalise somebody else’s property like this,” she said.
“I wasn’t left to clean it up, hard rubbish removal was scheduled the next day and when I returned to the property majority of the mess had been cleaned up beside the small pieces of broken glass.
“I’m extremely thankful to say the least.”
