When the issue of rubbish was raised at VCAT, it was a ruling to extend the daily cleanup zone to be 200 metres from the store. One month in and it is evident that this clearly wasn’t far enough as rubbish has been littering up and down Burwood Highway and plaguing commuters at Tecoma station.
The rubbish focus is on the main roads and thoroughfares, with minimal rubbish turning up in smaller side streets. Unfortunately these roads often wind through our national parks. Public transport shelters at bus stops and the train stations are also hotspots. Both these observations give weight to the argument that it is most definitely NOT locals frequenting this business.
Thank you to everyone that has collected over the past month. What we have shown is that these types of “industrial food processing plants” have a waste generation capacity up to 4km away (to date) which should be taken into account when making planning approvals close to national parks and areas of significant environmental value to tourists and endemic animal species.
We plan to keep up the collection of this data so Tecoma can be used as an example by other community’s as what detrimental affect a drivethru has on the surrounding area.

What you can do?
-Take a photo of any rubbish and record the approximate location (your phone can give you accurate co-ordinates) or just record the location you can smell the “odour”.
-Collect the rubbish to return to the store or bin it yourself.
-Email the photo of the rubbish and the location to mcrubbishinthehills@gmail.com or send it to 0411 079 064.