![\"Gisborne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gisborne-district-council-waste-solutions-manager-luke-knigh-EFQHT3KGUNAIVGLSFN3ERRRXRY.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA popular Gisborne beach is an illegal rubbish dumping hotspot, accumulating multiple tonnes of waste over the past two months.<\/p>\n
By Imogen Brophy for Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n
National East Coast chairperson and former Gisborne District councillor Pat Seymour said she had come across large piles of illegally dumped rubbish at Makorori Beach carpark several times this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly the beaches bear the brunt of it because they are reasonably isolated and people can stop there at night and get away with it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Seymour discovered what she described as a trailer-load and a carload of household waste dumped in the car park.<\/p>\n
Waste typically contained food packaging, black rubbish bags and other general household waste, she said.<\/p>\n
Site of the National Surfing Championships<\/p>\n
The repeated dumping had caused Seymour great concern because of the area\u2019s beauty and importance as a surf location.<\/p>\n
Makorori hosted the National Surfing Championships earlier this year and has been the venue for other local and national-level events.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a councillor now, but it was my area, so I\u2019m really keen about the protection of our beach, and so many people do love our beautiful environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was concerned the ongoing problem could eventually lead to restrictions on public access if authorities were forced to introduce preventative measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes it mean that if people are going to persist in using this particular location, that that particular tree area is railed off?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so the benefit of it is not available for the community to use.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Seymour said some residents had been taking matters into their own hands, using their own trucks and trailers to remove the dumped rubbish.<\/p>\n
Gisborne District Council waste solutions manager Luke Knight said Makarori was a known dumping \u201chotspot\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gisborne District Council waste solutions manager Luke Knight said Makarori was a known dumping \u201chotspot\u201d, with three tonnes of waste removed in the last two months. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Around three tonnes of illegally dumped items have been removed from the beach over the last two months, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAreas where people can dump rubbish without being easily seen tend to attract this behaviour and, unfortunately, that often includes our beaches,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIllegal dumping continues to be an ongoing issue that affects our environment and community spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
The compliance team monitored Makorori twice a week during winter and every day during summer to identify and remove rubbish as quickly as possible, he said.<\/p>\n
He encouraged anyone who comes across illegal dumping to contact the council immediately to reduce the impact on the whenua.<\/p>\n
Knight encouraged residents to utilise recycling, disposal and donation options available in the district to dispose of waste properly rather than creating “unnecessary costs for ratepayers”.<\/p>\n
The council continued to target illegal dumping throughout the district with signage, video surveillance and enforcement action.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular Gisborne beach is an illegal rubbish dumping hotspot, accumulating multiple tonnes of waste over the past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[273,12506,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-529043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-environment","tag-gisborne","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529043","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=529043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}