Corrections' roadside clean-up cutback rubbished

A reduction in time spent picking up litter by offenders on community service is being blamed for an increase of rubbish lining our district's roads.

In May this year, the Rotorua District Council won a battle with the Community Probation Service in Rotorua who had previously told Keep Rotorua Beautiful that offenders serving community service sentences would no longer be available.

At the time, Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters said he had been told it was because the service viewed the clean-ups as dangerous and not meaningful, so he contacted Corrections Minister Anne Tolley to try to rectify the matter.

"They were certainly meaningful to our Keep Rotorua Beautiful organisation, to the council and to our community, and I made that very clear to Anne Tolley," he said.

The department decided to reinstate some of its litter collection work but at a reduced rate.

Former Keep Rotorua Beautiful co-ordinator Christine Findon, who retired at the end of July, said she wanted to add her voice to Rotorua Daily Post letter writer Carl Schischka who earlier this week highlighted his concerns with roadside litter in the district.

Mr Schischka has been voluntarily collecting litter around the district for many years and has seen a large increase in the past few months.

Mrs Findon, who lives in Hamurana, said since community service litter collections were reduced she had noticed far more rubbish lining local roads.

She said the work was not meaningless and said members of local organisations such as Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis donned hi-viz vests to walk the roads and pick up litter.

"They do it because of civic pride and it certainly is not meaningless to them," she said.

Rotorua District Council works manager Peter Dine said roadside litter collection work continues to be undertaken by people working under the department's supervision but at a reduced rate.

"We're certainly appreciative of that assistance as it does help reduce the amount of ratepayer money we would otherwise need to spend on cleaning up our roadsides."

Mr Dine said litter remains an ongoing problem as a result of irresponsible people discarding their rubbish without a thought for the environment.

"It's an issue that the council, our Keep Rotorua Beautiful team, and many volunteers work really hard to try and keep on top of," he said.

Corrections Services Central Region commissioner Terry Buffery told the Rotorua Daily Post last night that Community Probation in Rotorua continues to deploy work parties to help Keep Rotorua Beautiful achieve their aims.

"Community work offenders regularly complete jobs for the Rotorua District Council including graffiti removal, maintenance work for local schools, constructing cycle tracks in the Redwood Forest and roadside litter collection.

"In line with Corrections' goal to reduce reoffending by 25 per cent by 2017, we actively seek work for community offenders that will enhance skills that will aid rehabilitation.

"Corrections does not consider work such as roadside litter collection to be meaningless," he said.