Ōpōtiki District Council staff have called out the behaviour of fly-tippers online, calling the behaviour ‘disgusting’ and urging the community to report it if they see it.
The most recent site identified is off Gault Road where so much rubbish had been dumped that the Council’s usual contractors weren’t able to clean it up.
Council’s Operations and Systems Manager, Anthony Kirikiri said they had brought in Delta Contracting as they have the machinery and trucks to deal with the volumes of waste.
“That site has some of the worst fly-tipping the team has ever seen in our district. There is general household waste, paint and other unknown chemical containers, whiteware, furniture, demolition waste, car body parts, and green waste. There is even some evidence of waste being set alight. Real people have to clean this up and deal with it and it is very unfair to them and the ratepayer who ultimately have to cover this cost.
“We are aware of issues on that site and it has had a surge in illegal fly-tipping recently so we keep a pretty close eye on it, so this happened pretty quickly. Given the different types of waste and the huge amount of it, it seems likely there may have been several different households responsible. Someone must know something about it and I encourage them to call it into council because we are very keen to find those responsible,” Mr Kirikiri said.
The site is outside the stopbanks but is prone to flooding and in heavy rain the waste could have been washed away and into the awa, causing even more environmental damage.
“It's really disappointing as the behaviour impacts the community’s health and wellbeing, the environment and those that neighbour the area. The costs to clean this up will be significant.” Mr Kirikiri said.
Any fly-tipping can be reported to council and the Antenno app can be a very easy way to do so.
