{"id":325698,"date":"2026-03-12T09:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/325698\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:25:09","slug":"tauranga-resident-outraged-by-response-to-dumped-asbestos-near-water-supply-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/325698\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga resident outraged by response to dumped asbestos near water supply area"},"content":{"rendered":"

The complainant said he was familiar with asbestos products.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the woman on the hotline I was 90% sure it was asbestos concrete and pipes, enough to fill a trailer-load. I also warned her that anyone visiting the area should be extremely careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe waste was dumped near Tautau Stream, which is a drinking water source for Tauranga residents. <\/p>\n

He said the hotline operator assured him his concerns would be passed on to the appropriate person.<\/p>\n

However, he called the hotline again at 1.51pm on Monday when he saw the asbestos material was still there, and the same operator suggested he phone the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.<\/p>\n

The complainant said as he was taking photographs later that day, a Hawkins Construction worker pulled over and confirmed the dumped waste was asbestos products.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t understand why it\u2019s taken so long for anything to happen. We\u2019re not talking about timber pellets or general household waste \u2013 this is highly dangerous stuff and a health hazard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man said it was \u201cbloody appalling\u201d it had not been cleaned up immediately, given the dumped material\u2019s proximity to a drinking water source. <\/p>\n

\" Bags of asbestos materials were dumped near a critical Tauranga City water supply source between Gluepot Rd and SH36 last week. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Bay of Plenty Regional Council compliance team leader Trudy Richards said the council received an email on March 2, followed by two calls to the pollution hotline on March 6 and 8 about fly\u2011tipping at the site.<\/p>\n

The information was passed to the Western Bay District Council, the relevant territorial authority. <\/p>\n

Asbestos materials must be \u201cmanaged and removed by a licensed asbestos professional\u201d in line with national health and safety requirements. Richards urged people not to disturb the waste.<\/p>\n

\" Bay of Plenty Regional Council compliance team leader (air, industry and response) Trudy Richards. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cFly\u2011tipping is not only hazardous to the environment but also frustrating for the community, as the clean\u2011up costs ultimately fall back on ratepayers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese incidents divert resources away from other important work and place an unnecessary burden on councils and the public.\u201d <\/p>\n

\" Rubbish bags of asbestos materials illegally dumped near Tautau Stream in the Western Bay of Plenty district. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Western Bay of Plenty District Council solid waste operations lead Katie McHugh said the council had received several complaints, both directly and via the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.<\/p>\n

She said the council\u2019s contractor, Downer NZ, had sent its specialist team for handling dangerous materials to collect the waste this morning. <\/p>\n

McHugh said there was \u201csome initial confusion\u201d about the exact location of the dumped materials, which affected the collection date. <\/p>\n

\u201cDumping dangerous materials is illegal and unacceptable, and puts people, wildlife and the environment at risk. We urge anyone disposing of hazardous items to use authorised facilities and follow safe disposal guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said it costs the council about $150,000 a year to remove and dispose of dumped waste.<\/p>\n

There was also a \u201cconsiderable amount\u201d of green waste dumped illegally on various pieces of land throughout the district, including reserves, roadsides, down banks and in vacant lots. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it might seem harmless, dumped garden waste can smother native vegetation, threaten wildlife habitats, attract pests and disease, introduce invasive species and increase fire risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council sought to recover clean\u2011up costs when it could identify those responsible, McHugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this is often difficult as illegal dumping usually happens in remote or hard-to-see areas where people think they won\u2019t get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illegal waste dumping in the Western Bay district can be reported by emailing info@westernbay.govt.nz, phoning 0800 TRASHY, or via the Antenno app.<\/p>\n

Sandra Conchie<\/a> is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional\/community reporter of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The complainant said he was familiar with asbestos products. \u201cI told the woman on the hotline I was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12635,3596,3595,20211,3180,111,43,139,69,146869,10710,5034,19862,1227,61,376],"class_list":["post-325698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-area","tag-asbestos","tag-by","tag-dumped","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-outraged","tag-resident","tag-response","tag-supply","tag-tauranga","tag-to","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325698","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=325698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}