Patea resident will soon have to find another spot to dump their hedge clippings.
Recent storm erosion and illegal dumping means the South Taranaki District Council will put a halt to the scheme allowing residents to dump their garden trimmings at Patea Beach.
The free drop off area was set up as part of the sand dune stabilisation project. The green waste was meant as a stopbank to strengthen the sand dunes and prevent coastal erosion.
The scheme has faced problems. District councillor for Patea Robert Northcott says the illegal dumping of goods like televisions meant the council could violate its resource consent for the area.
The beach has also seen too much green waste getting dumped because contractors and out of towners using the site.
"Its just a shame that a minority of people are ruining it for the rest of us," he said.
Council operations manager Herbert Denton said while regular clean up the site people often try to hide their garbage.
"Some of it is hidden, so you don't always see the hidden materials," he said.
If this wasn't enough, recent increased erosion due to storms means that the stabilisation project hasn't been very effective these past few months.
All this has meant the council intend to close the site. There will be a community meeting at the Old Folks Association Centre on January 25 at 6pm to inform and discuss the situation with residents.
From then on locals will be allowed to dump any green waste at the Patea transfer station, for six months.
"We will put a skip bin down at the Patea Transfer station on Scotland Street where residents can take their green waste, free of charge, during open hours," said Mr Denton.
Smaller amounts of green waste will then be moved to the beach to stop-up any patches of coast that look like they're receding.
"Scientist Dr Roger Shand, who manages the dune stabilisation on site for us, has recommended that for the time being we change our approach from a proactive one, where we have been using green waste to stabilise the dunes prior to erosion and wind drifts, to a reactive'one, where we focus on stabilising erosion and wind drifts as they happen."
Mr Northcott said that he would have preferred to have the area monitored and opened for certain times of the day was but the costs involved made it unrealistic.
Access to the look out point will be maintained.