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Welcome to the 3-D page where you can help us
Ditch Dirty Dumping
If you’ve seen someone dumping rubbish where they shouldn’t be, or you’ve found some illegally dumped rubbish, email here service@waitaki.govt.nz to let us know (you can attach photos to this e-mail if you have them). Or you can call 0800 108 081.
We follow up all reports of illegal dumping, and we’ll use the Litter Act to make offenders pay.
Any information you give us will be treated in confidence, unless you say otherwise.
Thanks for helping us to Ditch Dirty Dumping
Illegal dumping & why you’re entitled to be angry
What is illegal dumping?
Why is it such a problem?
If the Council didn’t charge landfill fees, wouldn’t the problem just stop?
What can I do if I see illegal dumping?
What will the Council do about it?
What is illegal dumping?
Illegal dumping (or ‘fly-tipping) is when people discard rubbish onto public or private land without permission. The Litter Act 1979 makes it an offence to do this and includes regulations for imposing penalties on offenders.
The Act defines rubbish as:
‘…any refuse, rubbish, animal remains, glass, metal, garbage, debris, dirt, filth, rubble, ballast, stones, earth or waste matter, or any other thing of a like nature’.
Illegally dumped rubbish in Waitaki has been found at number of locations, including roadsides, beaches, parks, borrow pits, illegal landfills (ones that don’t have Council approval), forests and farms.
Illegally dumped rubbish found in Waitaki has ranged from general household and garden waste, to car bodies, demolition materials, animal carcasses and offal, and old household appliances. All of these items should have been disposed of at a landfill/transfer station or other appropriate location, or recycled.
Why is it such a problem?
Illegal dumping has many negative impacts, which are summarised below:
• It can leach contaminants into land/beaches, harming plants, animals and the environment;
• It can stop proper drainage to run-off, making areas more prone to flooding when waste blocks creeks, culverts and drainage basis;
• If it contains contaminants and is dumped in or near water, will affect the health and ecology of waterways;
• It can pose serious health and safety risks, especially in areas accessible to people – e.g. broken glass at or near beaches is a significant danger, especially to children;
• It can attract rodents, insects and other vermin which may also pose health risks;
• It diminishes the aesthetic value of local communities, often resulting in reduced property prices and a loss of community pride;
• It creates an undesirable image for visitors to our district, especially at tourist locations;
• It must be cleaned up and taken to landfill – material that could otherwise have been recycled is often a significant portion of this;
• It costs the whole community through rates and tax money required to clean it up.
• If it’s not cleaned up, it attracts more rubbish by sending out the message that people do not care for the environment and that it is acceptable behaviour;
If the Council didn’t charge landfill fees, wouldn’t the problem just stop?
It would be nice to think that would happen, but even when there was no charge at the landfill in the ‘good old days’, illegal dumping was as much of a problem.
It is true that costs for taking rubbish to landfill have increased over recent years. There are a number of reasons for this including Central Government introducing a Landfill Levy, increased costs, and to encourage more recycling and waste minimisation in order to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill so we can extend its life as long as possible. Most people have responded well to this and have kept their costs right down in the process. And why shouldn’t the people who waste more pay more?
The sad fact is, there is a small section of the population that simply doesn’t care, or can’t be bothered getting rid of their waste the right way like the rest of us are doing, or don’t see why they should have to pay anything.
A large portion of the stuff dumped illegally could have been recycled for free at the Waitaki Resource Recovery Park, or at any of the transfer stations in the District. But people choose to use petrol to drive somewhere to dump it where they shouldn’t.
And even worse, we get cases of people dumping pre-paid bags illegally. These bags would have been picked up for free by the contractor at no extra cost.
The bottom line is there just isn’t any excuse for illegal dumping.
What can I do if I see illegal dumping?
Tell us about it – we rely on YOU to help us tackle this problem.
If you see someone in the act, report it immediately to the Council or the police if they are close by. Record the registration number of any vehicle if you can. Take a photo with your cell phone if possible. Write down a description of the vehicle and the driver. However, be careful not to put yourself at risk. Be discreet.
If you find some illegally dumped rubbish, tell us and we’ll investigate before having it cleaned up. We have a good success rate at working out who the offenders are.
What will the Council do about it?
When we find out who they are, we make them pay. Under the Litter Act we issue instant fines of up to $400. We can also take offenders to court, where fines of up to $7500 are handed out in some instances.
We can also charge them for the clean up costs – which can potentially run into several thousand dollars.
Dirty dumpers should be aware that a small action can result in considerable costs for them. For example, throwing out some old car oil over a bank by the side of a road, can result in oil entering a waterway and can result in tens of thousands of dollars in remediation costs. There is free drop off of waste oil at Oamaru Landfill! As we said, there really is no excuse.
And you are entitled to be angry about it.
If they don’t pay, we all do. So help us Ditch Dirty Dumping to stop them dumping on us.
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