AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL MEDIA RELEASE

11 June 2007

Illegal dumping - everyone pays

Auckland City Council has just completed a massive three-week operation to remove illegally dumped rubbish from an Otahuhu reserve on Great South Road, at a cost of $40,000.

More than 26 tonnes of rubbish were painstakingly gathered by hand and then lifted by crane from mangroves, which form part of the Tamaki Bridge Foreshore Reserve. Contractors found car batteries and engine oil seeping into the watercourse, as well as around 100 bags of domestic refuse, 139 car tyres, several sofas, fridges, freezers, washing machines, a car door, 20 wheelie bins and 11 shopping trolleys.

Across Auckland city, the 4900 cases of illegal dumping in the last 12 months, cost ratepayers about $1.5 million. Figures are set to rise if people continue to leave their rubbish in our parks, along our roadsides, watercourses and foreshore. Public areas tucked out of the way are also easy targets.

"Illegal dumping should be totally unacceptable in a modern society" says Auckland City Council's recycling and waste operations manager, Warwick Jaine. "It ruins our environment, threatens our wildlife and we all end up footing the bill.

"It's far more expensive for the council and ratepayers to clean up rubbish after it has been dumped, than to dispose of it safely by taking it to an approved transfer station."

Hazardous waste can be taken to the Hazmobile. For more information visit www.hazmobile.govt.nz.

Anyone who witnesses illegal dumping on public land, or suspects it may have occurred, can call the council's 24-hour contact centre (09) 379 2020. If you can, note the exact location, as well as the registration number of any vehicles involved, and any other detail as this will assist the council with following up the case. Those who dump rubbish illegally are liable to pay costs plus a fine of up to $500. Visit www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/rubbish for further information.

ENDS

© Scoop Media