8Littering

8 Littering (1) A person must not deposit litter at a public place or an open private place. Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units. Examples 1 dropping a lolly wrapper onto a footpath 2 leaving food packaging in a private car park (2) A person commits an offence if— (a) the person deposits litter at a public place or an open private place; and (b) the litter escapes, or is likely to escape— (i) from the public place into or onto another public place or an open private place; or (ii) from the open private place into or onto a public place or another open private place. Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units. Examples 1 unsolicited advertising material, brochures or newspapers left falling out of a letterbox or in a front yard that are likely to be windblown onto a public park 2 building waste kept unsecured on a building site that is likely to be windblown offsite Note Escape is defined in the dictionary. (3) A person commits an offence if— (a) the person deposits litter in a public place in a receptacle provided for litter; and

Offences Part 3 Section 8 R15 26/12/25 Litter Act 2004 Effective: 26/12/25 page 7 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au (b) the litter is not of the size, shape, nature or volume for which the receptacle is provided. Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units. Example placing commercial or household waste in a bin provided for general public waste (4) Subsection (1) does not apply to the depositing of litter at a place with the consent of the occupier of the place. (5) Subsection (2) does not apply to the depositing of litter at a place with the consent of the occupier of the place only if the litter is unlikely to escape. (6) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to— (a) the placing of a receptacle containing litter at a public place for the litter to be removed by a waste collection service; or (b) the depositing of litter at a public place or an open private place in a receptacle that is— (i) provided or designed to be used for litter; and (ii) appropriate for litter of that size, shape, nature and volume; or (c) the depositing of litter in accordance with an invitation from a public servant in the exercise of the public servant’s functions; or (d) the depositing of litter at a public landfill or waste facility in accordance with the requirements for depositing litter at the landfill or facility. (7) Subsections (1) to (3) do not apply if the depositing of the litter is accidental and the person takes all reasonable steps to retrieve the litter. Note The defendant has an evidential burden in relation to the matters mentioned in s (4) to s (7) (see Criminal Code, s 58).

Part 3 Offences Section 9 page 8 Litter Act 2004 Effective: 26/12/25 R15 26/12/25 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au (8) An offence against this section is a strict liability offence.