The Western Bay of Plenty District Council is asking residents to photograph people fly tipping and note car registrations to help catch them in the act.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council environmental solid waste team leader Ilze Kruis said the council hoped asking the public to record as much detail as possible would help with a sucessful prosecution.
Illegal rubbish dumping is costing taxpayers about $350 each week, according to the Tauranga City Council.
In the last three years from 2015-2018, cleaning up illegally dumped rubbish has cost the council about $54,000 - $11,000 in 2015, $18,000 in 2016 and $25,000 in 2017.
Tauranga City Council acting resource recovery and waste manager Cathy Davidson said the growing cost of cleaning up flytipping was likely because of the city's steady population growth.
Davidson said the council received 92 reports of illegal rubbish dumping in just over a month from December 1, 2017, to January 16, 2018.
Between 2015–2018, Davidson said about 320 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish was collected by council contractors from roadsides, reserves, beside letter bins and down banks.
Davidson said dumped rubbish included furniture, rubbish bags, tyres, bedding and other waste, including 12 dead possums found tied to one of the city's public rubbish bins.
Local restaurants have organised a public beach clean-up in the hope of encouraging other hospitality businesses to do their bit for the environment.
The Rising Tide and the Papamoa Tavern will host beach clean-ups at Papamoa and Mount Maunganui on February 17 to launch a campaign to promote the downfall of the single-use plastic straw.
People with information that can help the council track down offenders were asked to phone the Western Bay of Plenty District Council's hotline, 0800 TRASHY (0800 872 749).
"People caught illegally dumping rubbish in the Western Bay district can expect a minimum fine of $500 if prosecuted under the Litter Act," Kruis said.
"The penalty could be harsher if the dumping is considered to be an environmental issue."
Kruis said the council spent $60,000-$70,000 on removing illegally dumped rubbish which included staff time, transport or pay out to one-off cleaning up efforts.
He said the council had received 362 service requests to collect dumped rubbish in the Western Bay since January 1, 2017, and recorded 10,200kg worth of waste illegally dumped.
Notorious rubbish dumping hotspots spanned from Pongokawa to Waihi Beach, Kruis said.
However, he said Oropi Rd, Oropi Gorge Rd, Thompsons Track, Arawa Ave, No 4 Rd, Welcome Bay Rd and Bell Rd seemed to attract a lot of offenders due to their remoteness.
"Generally speaking country and side roads with less traffic are obvious sites for dumping as it can be done quickly with less chance of being seen," Kruis said.
The council periodically put up surveillance cameras on some of the rubbish dumping hot spots and had noticed an increase in construction and demolition waste dumped on road verges.
Kruis said people dumped their waste to avoid disposal fees or the inconvenience of transporting it.
"Many illegal dumpings happen when people move house, buy new furniture and have to get rid of old mattresses, couches and televisions, have recently done a large chunk of gardening, or have renovated their property," he said.
"A lot tends to take place at the end of the kiwifruit picking season."
Nearly 70 per cent of the city's kerbside waste could have been recycled or composted, according to the Tauranga City Council.
And almost half of the waste dropped off for landfill at Tauranga's two transfer stations could also have been composted or recycled.
Despite the amount of preventable waste thrown away, the council's compost and wormfarm classes were sold out.
A Tauranga City Council spokeswoman said the council held about two classes a year which were attended by about 160 people each time.
Envirohub Bay of Plenty manager Laura Wragg said the organisation was preparing for its biggest Sustainable Backyard event in March with 143 events.
Wragg said Envirohub would also be launching its Straws Suck campaign with the catch phrase 'Destraw or Destroy'.
"The aim is to get people to stop using straws when they are out and about and encouraging local cafes and restaurants to stop giving them out," she said.
Envirohub was teaming up with The Rising Tide and Papamoa Tavern to help launch the campaign to ditch the straws and instead use metal or paper alternatives.
Wragg said there were many businesses that were catching on to ditching anything plastic including the Boomerang Bags initiative which encouraged people not to use plastic shopping bags.
"The single-use plastic bag is something people can change overnight," she said.
Waste Watchers director Marty Hoffart said getting a compost bin would help reduce waste and cut costs at home immediately.
"This is the most harmful waste we bury in landfills because it creates greenhouse gasses as it rots," he said.
"And if you want to save money, downsize your wheelie bin - a large wheelie bin can cost up to $10 a week."
Hoffart said a council introduced a rates-funded kerbside collection service was unlikely to happen before 2020/2021.
He said the service was projected to cost between $236-$247 per household annually. Tauranga residents paid an average of $329 per annum for private collections.
"This means some residents could be paying around $80 less per year to receive a full collection service including a crate for glass," he said.
Owner of FreshChoice in Omokoroa Steve Ling said the supermarket was aiming to save 100 per cent from its landfill.
"It was fantastic to confirm we are diverting 90 percent of our waste from landfill. But we are not really content with that," Ling said.
"Thanks to the waste audit, we have more ideas on how to attack that last 10 per cent."
The results were revealed through an independent waste audit by Waste Watchers that is a free service offered by Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
Marty's top 10 waste reduction tips for Tauranga:
1. Deal to your food scraps and lawn clippings on your own property by using a compost bin or worm farm. It's free and you get the fertiliser. Chooks are great too.
2. Don't pay to send air to the landfill. If you can manage with a smaller wheelie bin, do it. Or use pre-paid rubbish bags. That way you only pay for what you put out.
3. Glass will no longer be collected from the kerbside in Tauranga and the Western Bay after March 1st. You'll need to recycle at the transfer stations.
4. If you have an item that can be used again, donate it to an op shop or put a free sign on it in front of your house.
5. If you live close enough, use one of the two council transfer stations for your recycling. It's free.
6. Get a reusable cup for your coffee. Kiwis use 350 million disposable cups a year. Many coffee shops will reduce the price by 50c.
7. Use your own bag at the supermarket. We are landfilling 1.6 billion per year and the average life span of these bags is 20 minutes.
8. Check out the Love Food Hate Waste website to deal to your food leftovers. Each household landfills $560 per year of edible food which is $870 million as a nation
9. Shop wisely, buy in bulk and don't accept excess packaging
10. Use cloth nappies rather than disposable
Where can you get rid of waste?
Western Bay of Plenty District Council
- At recycling centres in Athenree, Katikati and Te Puke
- At a Greenwaste drop-off facility in Omokoroa
- Rubbish and recycling collections are carried out by private contractors on a pre-paid basis
Tauranga City Council
- At the Te Maunga or Maleme St transfer stations
- Several independent city recyclers accept specific items including steel and building materials
'It’s an expensive asset, and it should be well-used.'