Van Rinsvelt, 24, threw a lot of items out after they were soaked with a mixture of what appeared to be floodwater, wastewater and sewage.<\/p>\n
These included tables, suitcases, shelves, an ironing board, a gym chair, clothes, stuffed toys and nail polish. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t throw this stuff out because we didn\u2019t want it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe threw this out because we didn\u2019t want to get sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mt Cook resident Piper Van Rinsvelt’s garage when it was full of all her contaminated furniture, most of which was taken soon after being put on the kerb.<\/p>\n
During the flooding, Van Rinsvelt\u2019s bottom floor filled with water up to her shins.<\/p>\n
She works as an illustrator and her bottom floor contained her art studio and garage, which housed a lot of furniture and items she had not unpacked after moving into the apartment five months ago. <\/p>\n
Van Rinsvelt has lived in Mt Cook for five years and had never experienced flooding before living in her current home.<\/p>\n
She said her flat was the lowest-sitting property on her street and seemed to be the only one that put out council-provided white bin bags full of damaged goods. <\/p>\n
The first night she put her rubbish out on the road, she said she saw an older couple drive up to the pile at 2am and \u201crobotically\u201d load their car with furniture. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey seemed like they had an absolute plan,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
In another instance, Van Rinsvelt saw people stealing storage bins she had thrown out. <\/p>\n
The bins were full of other contaminated rubbish and she said people took the containers but dumped the contents all around the street.<\/p>\n
It forced Van Rinsvelt to spend time tidying up the pile of rubbish multiple days in a row. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can barely tie it up anymore because it\u2019s all been displaced … And I\u2019m honestly scared that the council won\u2019t pick it up because now it\u2019s not properly sitting up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Rinsvelt said she knew Wellingtonians loved thrifting second-hand goods and admitted she had found great items that were left on the street.<\/p>\n
However, she felt taking flood-damaged items from other people\u2019s rubbish was a step too far and \u201cwasn\u2019t safe\u201d.<\/p>\n
What is now left of Piper Van Rinsvelt’s rubbish after strangers stole the majority of it. These two large bags were provided to her by Wellington City Council and she had to re-tie them multiple times after people ripped into them to take items.<\/p>\n
Massey University senior lecturer Mikael Boulic is an expert on building technology and public health and said saving damaged items is possible if done correctly and efficiently.<\/p>\n
To prevent mould from growing, it was crucial to dry as much as possible, as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
If you were indoors, Boulic recommended maximising ventilation, using a heater and getting access to a professional dehumidifier. <\/p>\n
On days with nice weather, furniture could be placed outdoors to dry in the sun. <\/p>\n
If mould was already starting to spread on an item, Boulic said it could be cleaned with a solution of 70% white vinegar and 30% water, or a mixture of soap and hot water.<\/p>\n
He advised wearing a mask and gloves while handling any contaminated items. <\/p>\n
\u201cMould will return if moisture persists so it\u2019s crucial to eliminate dampness to solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Boulic said it was \u201call about common sense\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are clever enough, I think, to judge if the furniture is still usable and is not damaged by mould.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying it\u2019s okay, I\u2019m saying it could be done if people are following the right process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Herald has contacted the Wellington City Council for comment.<\/p>\n
Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Van Rinsvelt, 24, threw a lot of items out after they were soaked with a mixture of what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1558,17308,17153,210405,210408,210407,19876,305,31869,19474,10110,111,43,139,2551,69,384,8244,38019,210406,312,4758,210,52,1354,5816],"class_list":["post-409009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-been","tag-contaminated","tag-damaged","tag-dumpsterdivers","tag-dumpsterdiving","tag-floodcontaminated","tag-flooding","tag-have","tag-impacted","tag-items","tag-middle","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-recent","tag-rubbish","tag-rummage","tag-says","tag-taking","tag-through","tag-wellington","tag-woman","tag-womans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409009","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=409009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}