It really is cheaper at the tip

Northland Regional Council area manager Peter Wiessing took little time to identify the owner of bags of rubbish dumped into the Awanui River from Kaitaia's Allen Bell Drive bridge on Monday.

The stench had hardly dissipated from his vehicle when he said the culprit, who had confessed, would be fined $750.

"It really is cheaper to take rubbish to the transfer station than to dump it in the nearest river," Mr Wiessing said, although the more offensive element on Monday was a fish bin of sheep offal that was also removed from the water.

"People think eels will eat this stuff but they won't, he said.

"All they're doing is polluting the water, possibly to the point, especially in smaller creeks, where the eels will die.

"None of this stuff - offal, fish frames, household rubbish - is good for waterways.

"It pollutes the water and eventually ends up in our harbours, or on our beaches.

"I want people to know we will always make every effort to find who is responsible and take enforcement action, unless they have an exceptionally good explanation."

A first offender would generally cop a fine of about $400, a second offence might cost $700, and after that the culprit would be prosecuted.

"The thing that beats me," he said on Monday as he surveyed the bags of rubbish downwind of the Northland Age, "is that all this stuff here is recyclable. One of the bags has been pre-paid, so it could have gone to the dump for nothing.

"If people want to get rid of organic waste without paying to do so, and it's too hard to dig a hole, they should at least find a tree somewhere nice and dry where it will do some good, and won't get into a waterway."