First and final warning for Aupouri Forest dumpers

Beau Mallett (Summit Forests), Senior Constable Brian Camplin (police), Karen Lucich (Summit) and Rangitane Marsden (Ngai Takoto) survey household rubbish in Aupouri Forest. Photo / Peter Jackson

Police, forestry companies and iwi are vowing to take a hard line against people who dump rubbish in Aupouri Forest north of Kaitaia.

Beau Mallett, of Summit Forests, said dumping of household rubbish had grown from an irritant to a major, expensive problem. And police are promising to prosecute people caught dumping under the Litter Act.

"It's out of control," Mr Mallett said.

Removing the rubbish was costly, irksome to Summit staff who had to do the job, and potentially hazardous, he said. Those responsible sometimes made a half-hearted effort to conceal the rubbish but others simply dropped it on the side of forest roads.

Clothing, toys, electronics, food waste, other assorted household rubbish and bottles were all found, and disposed of, on a regular basis, and Mr Mallett has had enough.

"We clean it up as we find it but it's really getting out of hand. Illegal dumping is a real issue all around the Far North, but it's beyond a joke here."

Colleague Karen Lucich said the extraordinary thing was that perhaps 40 per cent of the rubbish dumped in the forest was in pre-paid bags. All the owners had to do was deliver it to a transfer station, at no further cost to themselves.

Senior Constable Brian Camplin said police actively supported Summit's bid to deter dumping.

"We will assess every incident on a case-by-case basis, but the message is that there will be no more warnings. In every case where we can identify the source of the rubbish we will charge the owner under the Litter Act."

The Act provided for a fine of up to $5000, or $7500 and one month's imprisonment if hazardous material was involved. "Hazardous" could range from broken glass to soiled nappies.

Illegal dumping was a strict liability offence, he added, meaning that whoever prosecuted only had to prove the identity of the owner, not their intent.

"Is this your rubbish? End of story," he said.

"It's a prick of a thing to get caught for. And the owner will be prosecuted, unless they can prove that someone else was responsible. They can expect to be fined, to get a bill for the cost of cleaning up, and they will be publicly named and shamed."

One such case was already being dealt with, a local man having admitted pocketing the transfer station fee and dumping rubbish that someone else had asked him to dispose of.

He had already received a $590 invoice from Summit and had written a letter for publication in The Northland Age.

Mr Mallett said he was happy to get a result in that instance, and was hoping to get another out of two more piles that had been found off the internal road Ogle Dr.

"We have every hope of identifying the owner of all this," he said.

"People would be surprised by the ways we have of identifying who does what in this forest, as someone, hopefully, is about to find out."

The forest is part-owned by Te Runanga o Ngai Takoto.

Fly tipping is a major problem across Northland.

WDC has issued 281 litter infringements since January 2010. In December last year, WDC spent about $5000 cleaning up a huge pile of trash in native bush on Russell Rd near Helena Bay.