\u201cSecurity cameras will be operating after hours. Council will investigate and issue infringements for anyone caught dumping illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far this year, 19 infringement notices have been issued for litter\/illegal dumping around the region – fines were a maximum of $400 each.<\/p>\n
Of the rubbish dumped outside the transfer station, about 20% was stickered (paid for) and dropped off by people thinking the crates at the gate were an after-hours service, but this was not included in what is collected from rates, Nickerson said. <\/p>\n
Rates only covered kerbside collection for rubbish and recycling. Disposing of other waste was at the cost of users.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring Covid-19 and again during Cyclone Gabrielle, crates were provided by Waste Management at the front gate to help alleviate some of the barriers facing the community during these crises.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s assumed that people have just continued this behaviour, or even think it\u2019s allowed, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the escalating volumes and cost we\u2019re now needing to educate people that it\u2019s not a service, and dumping waste in public places is not permitted and will be enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nickerson said the council\u2019s operational budget was set three years in advance and was not sufficient to cover the costs of illegal dumping, which had increased by \u201cmore than 40% year-on-year for the past three years\u201d.<\/p>\n
When asked how much of the 1200 tonnes was in public places and not outside the transfer station, Nickerson said it was hard to quantify, but approximately 2%, which would equal 24 tonnes.<\/p>\n
Some dumped items, such as metal, were taken directly to metal recyclers rather than being sent to a landfill, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo tackle the main issue occurring outside Waste Management, our message to the public is that any rubbish must be dropped off during operating hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
This meant, stickered rubbish bags may be dropped off during opening hours only, and all other rubbish must be weighed and paid for over the weighbridge, he said.<\/p>\n
New signage is to be installed at the transfer station to let people know what to do.<\/p>\n
Nickerson said the council would also send out more education messages through media and its online channels to encourage people to \u201creuse, recycle or dispose waste correctly\u201d.<\/p>\n
This would include where to recycle items like batteries, building materials, e-waste or soft plastics, and participating in Second Hand Sunday.<\/p>\n
Many illegally dumped items were \u201crecyclable, reusable or donatable\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
The council also plans to monitor hotspots for dumping, including roadsides, beaches, and vacant urban lots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t put surveillance in every location, so we rely on and ask members of the public to report anything they see in public places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council was also looking at ways of improving its future waste system through the Waste Minimisation Management Plan 2025-2031.<\/p>\n
It had been drafting the plan with stakeholder groups and would consult with the community in early 2026, Nickerson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSecurity cameras will be operating after hours. Council will investigate and issue infringements for anyone caught dumping illegally.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31987,74,806,9525,802,124,5205,110653,31533,1872,8987,12506,89786,11551,15975,111,43,139,69,384,38019,13655,1515,52443,8218,25361],"class_list":["post-180583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-31987","tag-after","tag-as","tag-caught","tag-costs","tag-could","tag-council","tag-dumpers","tag-dumping","tag-face","tag-fines","tag-gisborne","tag-gisbornes","tag-hours","tag-illegally","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-rubbish","tag-station","tag-surge","tag-transfer","tag-warns","tag-waste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180583","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=180583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}