New Litter Laws Restrict Poster and Brochure Distribution

You may have heard about the recent proclamation of Tasmania's new litter laws, and how dropping your cigarette butt could see you face a $120 fine.

But did you realise that these changes also affect how Tasmanians can distribute their posters and brochures?

When putting up posters you must seek the prior permission of the property owner or the land manager. So putting a poster on a street pole will be an offence, unless you have permission of the person in charge of the pole.

When distributing brochures, the emphasis is on secure placement, to prevent the brochures becoming litter. It is now illegal to place brochures under car windscreen wipers, unless you have permission of the owner of the vehicle. When delivering brochures to houses, brochures can only be placed securely in letterboxes or put under the door, not left elsewhere.

Not only that , the person authorising the delivery of advertising materials can be fined for failure in their duty to ensure secure delivery of that material. So if you ask your friend to distribute posters or brochures for you and they put them in the wrong place, you may get a fine too.

All of these offences would lead to a minimum fine of $240 for an individual and $480 for an organisation, with a maximum court fine of $2400.

Keep this in mind when promoting your next arts event.

For a link to the full bill, see The Environment Department's website.