Rubbish disposal costs blamed for illegal dumping in Northland

Two ute loads and one trailer load of rubbish were removed from this Waikare Gorge site, and the job was only half done.

The cost of disposing of rubbish is too high for many Northlanders according to Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis, although that was just one factor.

Mr Davis, who spent part of last week knee-deep in illegally dumped rubbish, also pointed to excessive consumerism, sheer laziness and ubiquitous alcohol bottles as playing a part in the region's rubbish problem, which spanned native bush, beaches and even urban areas.

On Tuesday Mr Davis and a handful of volunteers were in the bush at the Waikare Gorge, near Karetu, cleaning up yet another illegal dumping site that he had happened upon a few days earlier while walking.

They removed two ute loads and one trailer load of rubbish, but he estimated that was only half the job. They planned to return to finish it.

"It was certainly a mess, and a horrible job," Mr Davis said.

As well as furniture there were clothes, alcohol bottles, cans and "heaps of nappies".

Both the Whangarei and Far North district councils are plagued by illegal dumping, or 'fly tipping', the FNDC's Allen Cammell saying the problem, particularly in remote bush, had increasingly "come out of the woodwork" over the last year or so. Both councils ask people to report any dumping they come across.

Mr Davis' crew took the rubbish they had collected to the FNDC's Whangae refuse station, where they were charged $60 to dispose of two chairs and a couch.

Mr Davis said the attendant realised the rubbish wasn't theirs, and waived another $40 or so in fees for the rest of it, saying the volunteers could keep the receipt and ask the council for reimbursement.

Mr Davis said that cost would be prohibitive for the average family, but acknowledged it was not an easy problem to solve.

"Tai Tokerau is an area where people don't have a spare $100," he said, suggesting that a bottle refund scheme and inorganic collection could help.

Three members of the community group Bay Beach Clean helped Mr Davis, founder Craig Salmon saying at least half the rubbish could have been taken to a recycling station at no cost. Some had even been sorted.