Worst mess I have ever seen, says resident

Fenton Park resident Pauline Wilkinson is tired of seeing rubbish strewn along her street.

Ongoing rubbish issues have one resident fed up, saying it should not be her job to clean up after her neighbours.

Pauleen Wilkinson says she often wakes to overflowing, non-regulation rubbish bags on her street.

But a few days ago, she looked out her window at the "worst mess" she had ever seen.

"When I saw that mess I just thought 'oh my goodness'." There have been issues before with tenants not using regulation rubbish bags so they wouldn't get picked up, but this time they had been ripped open and spread across the street."

She said she had a polite word with her neighbours about using council-approved bags but her advice went unheeded.

Ms Wilkinson has been living in her Fenton Park home for more than 30 years.

"It's a shame because obviously we want to be proud of our street and keep it looking nice."

She suggested landlords or property managers should educate tenants on how to dispose of rubbish correctly.

Russell Hardie Rotorua managing director Donna Russell said, while they could not babysit tenants, they did everything they could.

"If and when we do get a complaint about rubbish we deal with it quite strictly. We issue letters with reminders to use the appropriate rubbish bags and give verbal reminders and follow up if we do an inspection and notice an issue," she said.

Rotorua Contracting/Castlecorp chief executive Tim Hammond said the council was unaware of the problem on Ms Wilkinson's street but would "keep an eye on this [rubbish] run to see if there is an issue we need to resolve".

He said people should try to talk to their neighbours but, if they could not or if the problem continued, they should contact the council. "If our staff come across rubbish spilled out of bags, they will pick it up as a one-off, and if it keeps happening a foreman will visit the residents to have a chat."

Mr Hammond said unofficial rubbish bags, which were overflowing, excessively heavy or contained obvious sharp or dangerous items, were not picked up and were "stickered", indicating why, with the council's number for people to contact if they wished.

Readers on the Rotorua Daily Post Facebook page said there was a rubbish problem city-wide, not just on select streets.