A World War I explosive was found in the sand dunes of Midway Beach on Tuesday among a pile of illegally dumped rubbish.

The find triggered a Police and Army response with the New Zealand Defence Force’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squadron being flown into Gisborne on Wednesday morning.

NZ Police said in a statement they were alerted around 8pm on Tuesday by council staff.

Police assessed the item and advised the EOD.

On Wednesday around 4pm, the EOD team transported the item to a secluded area of beach for disposal, a 900-meter exclusion zone was set up and the relevant residents were notified.

Council Solid Waste Advisor Chloe Howard-Lloyd says, “It’s obviously of enormous concern”.

“It’s not only the volume of illegal dumping that’s increasing in our region but what items people are dumping.

“Last month we had more than 50 used syringes illegally dumped on a Stanley Road footpath, and now an explosive is found dumped on our beach.

“Our community holds regular beach clean-ups along Centennial Marine Drive (the “Mad Mile”) where this item was found discarded among other waste that someone was getting rid of.

“Items like this need to be disposed of correctly as they pose a threat to our community’s safety, please be considerate of our people and places, we have disposal options.”

Ms Howard-Lloyd said the items of rubbish the WW1 explosive was discarded with was searched but no identifying information was found.

“We advise people to please be aware of any usual items and to contact the authorities if you are concerned.”

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