Illegal rubbish dumping disappointing

DISCARDED: This pile of rubbish sat outside the Ferguson Street Recycling Centre clothing bins on Tuesday. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Illegal dumping of rubbish within the city is annoying both council and residents.

Palmerston North woman Christine Woodhouse was disappointed to see large amounts of discarded items crowding the clothing bins outside the Fergusson Street Recycling Centre earlier this week.

She said she thought it may be due to a combination of people having a clear out and no waste facilities being open over the long weekend.

"These were things like a bike, a tutu ... things that could have been used elsewhere."

But Palmerston North City Council Water and Waste Services manager Robert van Bentum said the illegal dumping was an issue for many councils, especially after Christmas when people tended to have a clean out.

"We have a number of measures in place to make it easier for people to dispose of their unwanted goods, including our weekly household rubbish and recycling collection service and, they can also drop off items at rubbish and recycling centres located around the city.

"These include the Ferguson Street Recycling Centre, Awapuni Resource Recovery Park and the Ashhurst and Bunnythorpe Transfer Stations."

He said the Ferguson St site was for recyclable materials only, but residents could also drop off e-waste including computers, kettles, toasters, televisions, printers, microwaves, dishwashers and washing machines.

The centre is also equipped with clothing bins but, Mr Bentum said if they were full, people should look for alternative bins at another location.

Strong's Metal Recycling is also based at the Awapuni Resource Recovery Park and will accept items made of metal including cars, whiteware, steel, bikes, ladders, gas bottles, corrugated iron and old baths.

In 2013 the Palmerston North City Council held a one-off controlled disposal event prompted by an increase in illegal flytipping around the city's parks, streams and clothing bins.

At the time, council said cleaning up and disposing of the illegally dumped rubbish was costing ratepayers more than $200,000 a year.