Compliance team leader Brenda Ralph with dumped household rubbish at the start of Sunshine Track on Piwakawaka Rd.
Photo / Supplied
Compliance team leader Brenda Ralph with dumped household rubbish at the start of Sunshine Track on Piwakawaka Rd.
Photo / Supplied
People dumping rubbish in secluded scenic spots should be accountable for the environmental damage and expense they cause, says the Ruapehu District Council.
Compliance team leader Brenda Ralph said her team was frustrated and upset that household and other rubbish was being dumped down banks and polluting scenic areas andwaterways.
"Besides the environmental damage and cost of the clean-ups the really frustrating thing is that much of what is dumped could have been recycled or donated to local op-shops for free," she said.
"If the people who dumped their rubbish at the start of the Sunshine Track off Piwakawaka Rd [near Taumarunui] had made a little bit of an effort they could have easily reduced the actual refuse to a minimum that probably would have all fitted into a single pink kerbside rubbish bag, which costs less than one of the recyclable aluminium RTD containers they threw down the bank."
Ralph said It was clear from the outpouring of community feeling on social media in response to pictures of the dumping that a lot of people were disgusted at fly-tipping.
She said the solution lies with the community and the council hopes locals will help to identify those responsible for the dumping.
"We will be going through the refuse looking for anything that can link back to someone as well as photographing items that we hope the public will help us identify the owners of.
"People will be able to provide any information to the council in complete confidence and we will take things from there."
