Since the state government announced almost $50,000 in funding in September to help the Central West Off-Road Bicycle Club work with Orange and Cabonne councils, Forestry Corporation of NSW and community organisations to tackle ongoing illegal dumping in the popular recreation area, meetings have been held and research completed on the triggers behind the problem.

“It was good to get a broad range of opinion from stakeholders about why the dumping happens, and one of the things we discovered was that it’s not one demographic,” Ms Butcher said.

“There were dumps from quite old households, maybe deceased estates, there were dumps from families with nappies and that sort of thing, there were dumps of building waste, like trade materials and tools and tool bags.”

Ms Butcher is writing up the final strategy for Kinross State Forest, which will start to be implemented in January.

While the strategy is yet to be approved and finalised, Ms Butcher said it was likely to combine signage and enforcement measures with education on the variety of items residents could take to the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre free of charge, particularly once bulky waste collections ended.

“A lot of people don’t know that whitegoods are scrap metal and they’re free to take, and it’s the same with green waste,” she said.

“The resource recovery centre is one of the most innovative and forward-thinking centres around, and people need to understand what they can take and how to use it well.”

She said ongoing working bees at the forest would also form a key component.

“[We’ll be] fixing up the entrances off Bulgas Road to make it beautiful so you can see where to park and so it doesn’t look like a dumping ground,” she said.

“When it looks clean, people are much more reluctant to dump there.”

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au