Another illegal dump site has been found only a kilometre away from an earlier one on the same rural Whangarei road.
And Whangarei District Council is installing hidden cameras to prevent more people dumping at the site until it can be cleaned up early next year. That could cost around $20,000.
The dump on Kaiikanui Rd was reported to the Whangarei District Council on Monday, and staff and contractors went out to inspect the site yesterday. The site is steep, and over a fence. The rubbish, which contains mostly household rubbish bags, spills down the bank.
Solid waste engineer David Lindsay climbed over the fence to hunt through some of the bags near the top of the pile. Among the items he found was a prescription bottle with a name on it.
Waste and drainage field officer Grant Alsop said the site was only a kilometre from another huge illegal dump site on Kaiikanui Rd which was cleaned up last month.
That spot was reported in September but bad weather prevented the clean-up from going ahead until November. A crane was needed to clear items including a car wreck, fridges, a TV, a bicycle and more. No names were found in the rubbish when it was cleaned up.
"It's very frustrating. These offenders have got no respect for the environment or other ratepayers of our district, as this money we spend cleaning up these fly-dump sites could be better spent on other infrastructure around the district."
The council spent about $200,000 in the last financial year cleaning up illegal dump sites.
He said the volume of rubbish at this site is very hard to estimate because the terrain is so steep, which will also make it challenging to clear. Mr Alsop said the council won't know the volume until the clean-up crew gets down the slope and starts clearing it away next year.
In the meantime, concerned locals are keeping an eye out for Mr Alsop, and he will be installing some covert cameras.
He said it is another job which will need a crane, arborists and traffic management to clean up. He was again frustrated to see native bush being polluted. Mr Alsop thought the dumping site had been used for some time.
"That one looks like an historical one, with older stuff down the bottom but newer stuff at the top."
While he doesn't know how much the clean-up will cost, he estimates it will be more than $20,000.
The bags at the site will be searched when the site is cleaned up to find anything with a name on it. Anyone identified will be sent an infringement notice for $400.
He said illegal dumping in Whangarei was disheartening. Contractors are cleaning up around 70 a month from random pieces of furniture on the side of the road right through to big dump sites.
One of those was rubbish dumped next to the bins at Whananaki South at the weekend.
The bins contain a giant bag which local residents can put their rubbish in as there is no transfer station in the area.
Mr Alsop said it is the only area in the district which has the bins, and around 60 per cent of people are doing the right thing - buying the council rubbish bag and putting it in the bin.
The other 40 per cent are putting appliances, black bags without the council stickers and other rubbish both in and around the moloks.
The latest dump next to the bins contained a TV and other household rubbish. It was cleaned up on Saturday.
Another illegal site on Puhipuhi Rd will be cleaned up in mid-January after the grader has gone along Puhipuhi Rd. It will also require a crane.
In October, a large site was found on Ruapekapeka Rd, south of Kawakawa. It was estimated to be "easily" 100 cubic metres.
In July, an estimated 45-cubic-metre site was found in Parakao, near the Whangarei and Kaipara border, which also needed a crane to clear.