{"id":127299,"date":"2025-11-10T04:14:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T04:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127299\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T04:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T04:14:06","slug":"auckland-vehicle-owner-refuses-to-name-illegal-dumpers-fined-750","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127299\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland vehicle owner refuses to name illegal dumpers, fined $750"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">A cul-de-sac in Auckland&#8217;s M\u0101ngere has become a &#8220;persistent target&#8221; for illegal dumping, with contractors called out 55 times between February and October to clear waste.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Now, Auckland Council has convicted and fined the owner of a vehicle whose occupants were seen dumping rubbish at the site. Officials said the legal action was taken as part of a zero-tolerance crackdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In June last year, cameras captured waste being unloaded from a vehicle on the kerbside. The registered owner of the vehicle was tracked down but refused to identify those responsible and the matter was taken to court under the Litter Act 1979.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The defendant was fined $750 plus costs in October when they failed to meet the diversion conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Auckland Council general manager of waste solutions Justine Haves said the case reflected the council&#8217;s zero-tolerance approach to illegal dumping, with 599 fines issued in the past financial year \u2014 nearly double the previous year\u2019s total. More than 2000 tonnes of waste was estimated to be illegally dumped across Auckland each year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">She said there was a range of options for people to responsibly and easily dispose of waste.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;Much of the household rubbish we find dumped could have gone into recycling or food scraps bins, if it had been sorted,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/auckland-council-said-contractors-had-been-called-out-55-tim-LMJQFQPM2ZE4BJO5WKLRFOEDXM.png\" alt=\"Auckland Council said contractors had been called out 55 times to deal with illegal dumping in this M&#x101;ngere cul-de-sac.\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">Auckland Council said contractors had been called out 55 times to deal with illegal dumping in this M\u0101ngere cul-de-sac. (Source: Auckland Council)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;We also see a lot of mattresses and furniture that our inorganic collection service would have taken care of. These services are already covered by your rates, so we encourage everyone to make full use of them. Local community recycling centres also accept waste and recycling, often for a nominal fee.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Illegal dumping undermined residents taking pride in their neighbourhoods, Haves said, adding it was not just households but commercial waste contributing to the problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;In some cases, people are coming from outside the area to dump in these hotspots, which is unfair to locals who have to put up with the mess and its impacts. We would like to remind everyone that illegal dumping is unacceptable, and offenders will face enforcement action.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Offenders can face fines of up to $400 under the Litter Act 1979, and in some serious cases, prosecution with penalties as high as $30,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cul-de-sac in Auckland&#8217;s M\u0101ngere has become a &#8220;persistent target&#8221; for illegal dumping, with contractors called out 55&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,67,111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-127299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-crime-and-justice","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}