Twelve large sandstone quarry blocks were rolled across the entrance to Maroota Sandstone Quarry last week, in a bid to stop people dumping rubbish.
Michael Digianni, the quarry’s director, said every time he visited the quarry to do an inspection, he’d find rubbish at the front gate, including burnt cars.
‘‘The last few months it had really escalated,’’ Mr Digianni said.
‘‘Every week we were taking away a couple of bins of rubbish.
‘‘The problem was the cameras were so far back we couldn’t catch the number plates of vehicles.’’
So he approached Hornsby Council with the idea of placing blocks across the entrance on Old Northern Road.
‘‘It will work because noone can drive in and dump rubbish any more — I think it will stop a lot of problems,’’ Mr Digianni said.
Hornsby’s acting mayor Gurdeep Singh said: “We’re very grateful to Maroota Sandstone Quarry for their generous assistance.
‘‘This is a great example of council and the local business community working together for the benefit of the entire community.”
Gary Zwan, the quarry’s manager, said the need for action was made particularly clear last week when a new pile of rubbish was dumped less than half an hour after Hornsby Council had finished cleaning out the site.
“It was pretty unsightly when you came past here every day and saw the piles of garbage,’’ he said.
The sandstone blocks weigh about seven tonnes and are valued between $500 and $1000.
