'Downright disgusting': Post-Christmas rubbish pile up in rural Whanganui prompts council rethink

The rubbish pile up on the corner of Kaimatira and Longacre Rds in Okoia. Photo / Supplied

A Whanganui woman was alarmed by a rubbish bag pile up that was so overloaded it encroached on to a high-speed rural road.

Whanganui District Council says the issue of a large pile-up of rubbish bags is a common occurrence after Christmas and it is having a rethink over how to improve the situation.

In a photo sent to the Chronicle by Maureen Doyle, who lives near Upokongaro, rubbish bags can be seen piled high and spilling on to the road.

"Saw this today on our way home from the city via Kaimatira Rd, near [the] corner of Longacre Road," Doyle said.

"[It's] downright disgusting."

Doyle said the bags needed to be collected more frequently.

"It's obvious rats and the like had been at the one I photographed.

"It's just not a good look for anybody travelling through that area."

Whanganui District Council's waste advisor, Stuart Hylton, said council was now aware of the pile-up and a contractor had been called to clean it up.

It is a bag drop-off point for rural residents to put bags, but they must also have a Low Cost Bins white sticker attached.

"These sites are always prone to non-compliant rubbish being dumped, this one especially due to its proximity to town," Hylton said.

"The extra pile-up is assumed to be caused by the Christmas [and] New Year dumping pressures we usually experience at this time of year."

He said council was considering ways to avoid this sort of pile up in future - including getting in surveillance of some sort.

"I think we just need to pre-think the pile-up and have better surveillance. We are looking at a change of operations for this service that would address this matter."

Low Cost Bins said it collected the bags at the Okoia site once per week as long as they had the company's white stickers on them.

"The collection points are also used by fly-tippers dropping off illegally," the company said.

"The non-compliant waste is cleared regularly by a contractor employed by WDC [Whanganui District Council]."