Locality model ensures swift justice for fly tippers

Published on 09 September 2026

Community and Council officers solve fly tipping issue in under 24 hours with new locality based approach speeding up response times.

On Tuesday morning, civic minded locals reported fly-tipping at the end of Awamoa Road to our Customer Liason Officers at the Oamaru Library and Service Desk.

Council’s Locality Officer for Oamaru investigated, and found identifying material in the rubbish while organising for its removal by contractors.

On Wednesday morning Waitaki District Council’s regulatory officers visited an Oamaru North address and issued two $400 infringements to the occupants for littering.

Mayor Mel Tavendale was pleased with the rapid response, “Fly-tipping spoils our beautiful District and shows a serious lack of responsibility for managing something as simple as taking your rubbish to the tip or getting a weekly collection bin.

I’d like to thank the community members who reported it to Council, and it’s a credit to all of our team and an example of our locality model in action – from the first report to the issuing of the infringements and removal of the rubbish was less than a day.

Thanks also to the overwhelming majority of people in Waitaki who manage their waste and recycling in an adult, responsible and intelligent manner – recognising that we live in a beautiful District that’s worth looking after.”

Signage will be going up at all of the entrances to the closed Beach Road later today.

Council’s Antenno app is an easy way to report issues to Council, it allows anyone to report issues to Council – attach video, photos and descriptions, and drop a pin on the map. You can download it from the Google Play or App Store, with no requirement to register.

Reports in Antenno go directly to our Customer Liaison Officers – just as if you’d visited one of our Service Desks in person.

ENDS

media@waitaki.govt.nz