Miss Rotorua ‘cleans up’ Mountain Road
How much does it cost to clean up illegal dumping?
The average cost of illegal dumping each year in Rotorua is about $120,000. We recover around 150 tonnes per year from illegal dumping. This is a small amount (0.3%) compared to the total waste created in the district of around 50,000 tonnes but indicates that the vast majority of people are acting responsibly and dispose waste through the appropriate channels and collection services.
What you can do to help?
- Encourage your friends and family to do the right thing. Not only does illegal dumping cost the community a lot of money, it also has a major impact on the environment.
- Take your rubbish home with you. This will help stop public bins from overflowing in popular areas. If bins are already overflowing, don't add to the pile, take the rubbish home and dispose of it in your wheelie bins. Contact Council and let us know the bin needs to be emptied.
- Report any dumped rubbish to Council at info@rotorualc.nz or 07 348 4199, as soon as possible so contractors can remove it before people add to it.
- If you witness illegal dumping, do not approach the offenders but take notes and photos or videos of the person and their vehicle. This can help with identification and prosecution.
- When reporting rubbish, it is very helpful if you supply photos that have a location tag. This can be done by turning on your location services on your smart device before taking the photo. This enables contractors to go straight to the dumping site rather than spending time searching for the rubbish.
We keep this information confidential and use it in court only with your permission.
Why don't you put more bins at reserves and other busy areas?
Council must balance being practical and having enough bins for people to use and also not taking away from the natural character of our environment. Often increasing the number of bins just attracts more rubbish.
We have tried adding bins during busy periods but this seems to encourage people to also use them for household rubbish disposal. We have also tried skips but people fill them with unwanted furniture and other large items.
Why don't you have staff picking up rubbish?
Finding and collecting litter would require a lot of extra staff and resources that would cause more cost to our community. During routine collections contractors collect any litter around where public bins are located. Our inner city team also clean the CBD and surrounding parks every day which includes litter pick-ups. We rely on information from the community about litter issues so we can organise clean ups.
More illegal dumping FAQs here.