Anger at fly-tipping found on a Tararua bush walk

Joe Delamere snapped this picture of his son walking into the bush in the Tararuas above Shannon in Horowhenua. He was appalled by the fly-tipping which he cleaned up and took away in his car to be disposed of correctly.

Joe Delamere was out walking in the bush with his children when they came across a sight that filled him with anger and prompted him to speak up about fly-tippers.

Mr Delamere was taking his children for a bush walk at Shannon's Mangahao dams when they stumbled across what looked like a popular dumping spot, with some areas of rubbish up to his children's knees.

Confused as to why there were piles of rubbish in the middle of a beautiful bushy wilderness, Mr Delamere's children turned to him for answers.

"All I could say was that it was from stupid people dumping," he said.

Mr Delamere posted a picture of the rubbish on social media site Livin in Levin Facebook page but received so much criticism of his stance that he decided to take it down.

"I put it up not to rub it in people's faces, but as awareness. This is what is happening in our own backyard," he said.

Some comments attempted to justify the dumping by blaming high dump costs.
"I took some of their comments into consideration," he said.

"Low income areas accumulate their rubbish and they don't have $150 to dump it at the tip.

"I don't have an alternative for that, that's their personal problem. It's the environment I care about. It doesn't have to be like that, there is no excuse."

He said it's not just Horowhenua that has fly-tipping issues. He was hunting in Nelson recently when he stumbled on another confronting sight - a fly-tip directly behind a sign reading 'National Park'.

"There was half a house - a washing machine dryer, couches, mattresses, a jug. There was all sorts," he said. "That is not respecting the generations before us and those to come.

"I love my local bush. It's the land I stand on and I have respect for it but so many people don't," he said.

"I'm not a green activist at all, but seeing that with my own eyes, picking it up, it hurts the feelings."

Mr Delamere feels like very few people actually care about the environment any more.
"My ancestors walked through this land and the things they left behind were footprints. They were there for that second and the moment they lifted their foot they were gone," he said.

"Look what we are leaving behind."

Mr Delamere would like to see alternative ways to clean up the environment, and more of his rates contributing to environmental initiatives.

"Personally I'd like my tax money to be spent on some young people on a Work and Income benefit to help clean [the environment]," he said. "Let's think outside the square."
Mr Delamere contacted DOC about the fly-tipping in Shannon and said DOC was planning on putting up a pole to deter fly-tippers.