Mayor Phil Goff helps with the inorganic waste at today's event. Photo / Supplied
Last month Auckland mayor Phil Goff put his vocal chords into action on illegal dumping.
This month, he put his muscles to work at a community event in Otara aimed at curbing the practice.
Goff took part in Neat Streets, an event organised by the Otara Waterways and Lake Trust, to put illegal dumping in the spotlight, allow residents to dispose of inorganic rubbish and learn how to minimise waste.
It's an issue close to Goff's heart.
Three weeks ago the first-term mayor let rip on Facebook, posting photos of dumped barrel loads of oil filters on the side of the road near his rural Ardmore home - which he'd spotted while travelling to work - and saying that he'd "had a gutsful" of illegal rubbish dumpers.
He called for a strict-liability rule for the owners of vehicles involved, for council staff to increase the low number of prosecutions, and for the public to dob in dumpers.
At today's Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board-supported event at Flinders Pl Reserve, Goff spoke with residents and members of the Compost Collective, Pacific Vision Aotearoa and Love Food Hate Waste, who ran workshops.
He also helped volunteers sort inorganic waste being dropped off.
"It's great to see the community coming together like this to combat a serious issue. The impacts are huge for the people who live in areas that suffer from regular illegal dumping," he said.
"We all need to take responsibility for our own waste and make sure we're vigilant about reporting it to council when we see rubbish in the wrong place."
The offenders took off in a stolen vehicle with cigarettes, cash and other items.