Staff follow up reports, can often trace the owners of rubbish through items that have been dumped, check car registrations and often successfully prosecute offenders, Mr Alsop said.
Several people contacted the Northern Advocate about fly tipping after the paper ran a story about piles of rubbish left around recycled clothing bins.
Bins at Tikipunga's Paramount Plaza were removed immediately by their owner, secondhand clothing store Savemart, after a news item on February 4 about the problem.
Residents living near bins at different locations in Whangarei said the long-term problem includes not just the dumping of rubbish but people then picking through it and strewing the mess further.
Two women whose properties overlook commonly used dumping sites asked not to be named because they feared intimidation from the "looters".
A Hikurangi man said dumping at Gilby Rd in the past week included the intestines and heads of two butchered sheep left on the road berm.
