Contractors remove rubbish dumped near Q-West Boat Builders in Castlecliff. Photo / Bevan Conley
Contractors remove rubbish dumped near Q-West Boat Builders in Castlecliff. Photo / Bevan Conley
Warning signs, CCTV cameras, $400 fines and now a mobile app are all lined up to combat illegal dumping.
The measures are part of Whanganui District Council's new campaign titled RID (Report Illegal Dumping).
Whanganui district councillor Rob Vinsen is spearheading the campaign against fly-tipping, with the council quadrupling itsbudget to pick up rubbish dumped illegally to $100,000.
Complaints from the public about fly-tipping have nearly doubled and just this week contractors were cleaning up a large pile of rubbish dumped on public land near Q-West.
"Encountering a pile of rubbish in the outdoors affects our residents' enjoyment of life and makes an abysmal impression on national and international visitors," Vinsen, who is also chairman of Whanganui District Council's waste minimisation advisory group, said.
Most of the dumping is around rural rubbish collection bins, especially at Kaiwhaiki. It's also bad around North Mole, South Beach and the Papaiti riverbank, the council's compliance operations manager Warrick Zander said.
The penalty for illegal dumping is a fine of $400, which five people have received in the past six months.
A dumper can be given an ultimatum: pick it up or pay the fine.
If the dumping is very large the dumper can be taken to court, Zander said.
Signs are going up now, with messages like "Don't dump your junk" and "If you see it, snap & send it".
Whanganui District councillor Rob Vinsen. Photo / File
The campaign is backed by the Snap Send Solve app that can be downloaded to iPhone and Android phones and which allows people to photograph dumped rubbish and send the picture to the council, with GPS marking its location.
Zander said it would be even more effective if people added the registration numbers of vehicles or descriptions of people to their message.
"Everyone has a camera on their phone, so as a community we can rally around and work together to target this selfish behaviour," Vinsen said.
"If they are caught red-handed, it's much better."
The emailed message goes straight to the council's customer services team, who log it and refer it to an officer.
