Council to sift through rubbish to find culprits

Rubbish dumped illegally outside the Hikurangi transfer station. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Ratepayers want Whangarei District Council to "name and shame" people who dump rubbish illegally, including leaving their mess outside transfer stations.

In the past two weeks, rubbish had been dumped outside the Hikurangi, Ngunguru and Uretiti transfer stations which had to be cleared by the council.

Waste and drainage manager Andrew Carvell said council staff sifted through the dumped rubbish bags to retrieve vital information such as papers with addresses of offenders in a bid to track them down. About 40 people have called the council through its Facebook page to name and shame the offenders.

Unwanted rubbish dumped along Tip Rd on the way to the Uretiti transfer station. Photo / Supplied

Those caught dumping rubbish illegally could be fined or taken to court.

Less than one litre of rubbish dumped illegally attracted a fine of $100, more than a litre $150, more than 20 litres $250 and $400 for more than 120 litres.

Since February 16, the opening hours of the district's transfer stations had been shortened for a three-month trial period after public consultations were undertaken last year.

However, the council does not believe the three recent instances of dumping is linked to the reduced opening hours.

Mr Carvell said people seemed to have adapted well to a trial of new transfer station hours.

Operating hours at Hikurangi and Parua Bay transfer stations had been reduced from 66.5 hours to 28 hours.

Uretiti, Ngunguru and Kokopu are open for 27 hours per week, Tauraroa 22 hours and Ruatangata and Oakura 20 hours.

Mr Carvell said while it looked to be a large reduction in hours, the hours that have been removed were times when few people utilised the transfer stations.

Illegal dumping, he said, continued to be a problem.

"People don't like this kind of irresponsible behaviour, and it's great to see so many willing to make a stand about it.

"We really appreciate it when people let us know if they see illegal dumping going on, and even more so when we can identify the party responsible," Mr Carvell added.

When the council posted a picture on its Facebook page of rubbish dumped outside the Hikurangi transfer station, the post reached almost 4000 people, more than 40 peopled commented, and there were 20 shares and 20 likes.

"Shame and name the dirty b*****s if you find out who did it," wrote Lana Brown.

"These people are either just pigs or they can't afford to pay for rubbish fees," Heather Hammond said.

Mr Carvell said nearly all the comments were supportive of the council's efforts to find those responsible.