Waitangi rubbish dumper fined, ordered to pay clean-up bill

A Northland man thought to be responsible for dumping a truckload of rubbish at a scenic viewpoint in the Bay of Islands has been ordered to pay just under $1000.

The $400 fine, plus an invoice for $572.65 to cover the contractor's clean-up costs, were issued last week by the Far North District Council.

The rubbish was discovered on July 6 at the Mt Bledisloe lookout carpark, in Waitangi Forest on the back road between Paihia and Haruru Falls.

Some of the trash had tumbled onto a popular cycle trail in the Waitangi Mountain Bike Park.

It appeared to have come from a home renovation project because it included roofing material, broken power tools, furniture, an incinerator and a bathroom vanity.

It also contained household waste and a number of documents with the name and address of a man in Haruru Falls. They included a named letter from ACC, a roofing invoice and a building supplies docket.

Ironically the illegally dumped rubbish was found on the same day as major volunteer effort collected 4cu m of trash from a 5km stretch of highway between Paihia and Opua.

Waitangi Mountain Bike Park project manager Tiffany Holland said she was thrilled the perpetrator had been fined, and glad that she — and others who cared about Northland's environment — had ''made some noise about it''.

''Hopefully it's enough to deter them in future. The roadside rubbish in Northland generally is a disgrace. There's so much more work to be done not only to clean it up but to educate all of the tossers. It is great that a fine has been imposed in this instance,'' Holland said.

The Advocate has contacted everyone in the Northland White Pages with the alleged offender's surname but all said they were unrelated. Some were upset their family name had been tarred by the alleged dumper's actions after the name found in the rubbish was widely shared on social media.

If the fine and clean-up bill are not paid the council's next step is to take the man to court.

Holland said illegal dumping at the Bledisloe lookout was an almost weekly occurrence.

Earlier this year someone emptied a truckload of rotting food onto the cycle trail below, and at least twice a week someone bought a carton of Ice beer and discarded the empties along the length of nearby Haruru Falls Rd.

Seven cartons' worth had been dumped in the past two weeks, Holland said.