Site navigation

Nature conservation

Click on elements of the model or select from the tabs below

Nature conservation areas, including national parks, conservation areas and state forests, can be hotspots for littering and illegal dumping[2]. This waste pollution may result from:

people dumping household waste
people dumping cars
residents and companies dumping green waste
unscrupulous businesses illegally dumping waste
animals moving litter
people littering at picnics, camping and other recreational activities, such as hiking, fishing and riding.

Natural areas are both habitats for wildlife and recreational areas for humans. Litter in this context can create problems for wildlife through both ingestion of hazardous materials, leaching of chemicals from man-made materials and from disruption of habitats[1]. It can also be dangerous where it causes, or is likely to cause, harm to a person, property or the environment, and tough penalties apply. This includes:

throwing a lit cigarette butt into bushland
leaving a hypodermic needle in a park
smashing a glass bottle on the footpath
throwing an item from a moving vehicle at a pedestrian or cyclist.

The Queensland Government conducted a community-based pilot project to address illegal dumping in the Beerburrum forest, approximately 300 km² of exotic pine plantation, open eucalypt forest and rainforest, managed by HQPlantations Pty Ltd. A coordinated Clean Up Australia Day event with HQPlantations Pty Ltd collected 26 tonnes of waste. Data showed that most of the illegally dumped material was household waste, including furniture and general litter, followed by tyres and green waste.

Waste in the nature conservation sector moves through the environment via four pathways:

References

^ Claro, F, Fossi, MC, Ioakeimidis, C, Baini, M, Lusher, AL, Mc Fee, W, McIntosh, RR, Pelamatti, T, Sorce, M, Galgani, F & Hardesty, BD (April 2019), 'Tools and constraints in monitoring interactions between marine litter and megafauna: Insights from case studies around the world', Marine Pollution Bulletin. [online], vol. 141, pp. 147-160. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X19300189?via%3Dihub.
^ Seror, N & Portnov, BA (2018), 'Identifying areas under potential risk of illegal construction and demolition waste dumping using GIS tools', Waste Management. [online], vol. 75, pp. 22-29. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X18300461.

Last updated: 22 April 2025

This page should be cited as:

Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Queensland (2025) Nature conservation, WetlandInfo website, accessed 8 May 2025. Available at: https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/management/pressures/litter-illegal-dumping/sources/nature-conservation/