Illegal dump disgusts Whangarei students cleaning up their neighbourhood

Paikea Mitchell, 7, with some of the rubbish she collected along the Onerahi waterfront. Photo/John Stone

An illegal dump in Onerahi became the perfect chance to show local students how some people treat the environment.

Two armchairs, mattresses, pallets, gib board, a broken coffee table and more were dumped at the end of Pah Rd some time on Monday afternoon.

A Facebook post alerted staff at Raurimu Ave School to the illegal dump. The staff were already planning a big clean up around the Onerahi waterfront on Tuesday morning with their Year 5 and 6 students.

The big clean up had to be postponed until today due to forecast bad weather, but staff instead decided to take all of the school's 88 students out for an hour to pick up rubbish.

Household items were illegally dumped at the end of Pah Rd. Photo/John Stone

Board of trustee member Linda Johnstone went along as an adult helper and took the Year 5 and 6 students to the illegal dump.

"We wanted to try and help out in some way."

She said the students picked up a bag's worth of rubbish along Pah Rd and at the dump site. The rubbish included plastic food wrap, cans, bottles and pieces of plastic such as chip packets.

Ms Johnstone said the students thought the illegal dump was disturbing, and were concerned the items could end up in Whangarei Harbour and harm the sea animals.

She said while one bag of rubbish wasn't a lot, she thought a big clean up by the community over Easter had picked up a lot of rubbish.

The rest of the students went along the waterfront and between them collected 20 plastic bags of rubbish. They too found cans and pieces of plastic.

Waiataahua Kareko, Tyla-Jay Paki, Noel Wogan and Jordan Manning with the haul of rubbish they helped collect from the waterfront. Photo/Supplied

Deputy principal Debbie Nolan said the school was an Enviroschool and the students had been learning about the environment and recycling.

"It's just showing the students what it looks like in real time."

She said the rubbish pick up showed students how they could help and give back to their community.

Back at school, the senior students would debate environmental issues, and the juniors would recount what they found.

Whangarei District Council waste and drainage field officer Grant Alsop said contractors from Northland Waste cleaned up the dumped rubbish on Tuesday afternoon.

The Facebook post also included a photo of a vehicle believed to have done the dumping.

Mr Alsop said the council would be following up the matter if a fine could be issued.