QUEENSLAND roads are now being treated like rubbish dumps - with the equivalent of 240 wheelie bins of rubbish discarded every day on the M1 alone.
The cost for cleaning rubbish from roads like the M1 in Brisbane and the Gold Coast has sky-rocketed to $2 million a year.
Thoughtless car drivers are dumping takeaway containers, beds and even fridges and washing machines on the eight-lane M1. Road transport staff filled a 60 cubic metre skip every day in December alone.
An inspection of the motorway by The Courier-Mail last month found bottles, cups and polystyrene fast-food packaging, plastic bags filled with all kinds of rubbish, planks of wood, a chair and not to mention insulation batts.
The problem is not only to do with the motorway linking Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Brisbane road users threw out enough junk to fill 8335 wheelie bins last year.
"The removal of litter and debris requires significant resources including people, vehicles and safety equipment," Acting Main Roads Minister Rachel Nolan said.
And the problem is getting far worse by the day.
"Most people would agree with me that they would rather see the Government invest that $2 million in making our roads safer or upgrading our existing road network than cleaning up the rubbish of thoughtless motorists," Ms Nolan said.
"Road users need to take responsibility for the environment. Rubbish is not only unsightly but can have a damaging effect on our native animals and on our waterways."
Motorists these days can face on-the-spot fines of a maximum of $500 for chucking out their rubbish.
Ms Nolan added that the roads near the council tips were a "haven for roadside rubbish".
"The holidays are a great time to clean up around the house but you must remember to cover your load when transporting unwanted goods and green waste to the tip," she said.
Opposition spokeswoman Fiona Simpson remarked that education rather than enforcement was a better approach.
"There hasn't been any education to do with the issue of public littering and what it is doing to the environment," Ms Simpson said.
"I think that the challenge with fines is catching people in the act although there may be opportunities in the future with roadside technology able to capture evidence."
She also indicated that there is now an issue of safety for road crews responsible for cleaning up the mess left by .
"It's dangerous for workers on the roadways and it's not appropriate to put volunteers in because of the issues of working along busy road corridors."
But Ms Nolan remarked that all work on the M1 was done at night purely for saftey reason which added to the cost.
The Keep Australia Beautiful Council research project showed that aluminium cans take 80 to 200 years to break down, plastic bottles take up to 450 years and glass bottles as many as a million years. A true indication of the problems that lie ahead.