By ELEANOR BLACK
Mess with Tauranga's self-appointed litter vigilantes and you could find yourself publicly humiliated.
A growing band of concerned citizens in Western Bay of Plenty are so sick of cleaning up other people's messes they have devised a novel way of dealing with litter bugs - going through their rubbish and identifying them.
For the past three years "Rubbish Sheriff" Peter Fluerty has been fighting a lonely battle against roadside dumpers in rural Oropi, 19km south of Tauranga.
He climbs into his ute about once a week, dog Kempsey at his side, and cruises the countryside.
When the straight-talking former construction worker finds a load of rubbish tossed down a bank, he sifts through the used nappies, broken glass and rusty tins until he finds bills or bank statements which identify the owner.
Then he neatly bundles up the rubbish and returns it - in person - after putting up a sign expressing his displeasure.
A group of unidentified Te Puna women who call themselves Maad (Midnight Actions Against Dumpers) have joined the fight.
They go so far as to compile lists of the objects found in illegally dumped rubbish and deliver profiles of dirty folk to mailboxes.
Pizza boxes, condoms, old clothes, and cigarette packets are all systematically sorted and dumped back on the front lawn of the offender under cover of darkness.
"It sounds like they have been doing their homework," said Mr Fluerty. "I dare say I will meet them."
Neighbours and friends have joined the sheriff's crusade, offering the use of vehicles and protective gloves. One admirer even sent him a gold, star-shaped badge to wear.
Frustrated by lack of action on the part of the regional authority, Environment Bay of Plenty, Mr Fluerty has expressed his concerns to other bodies.
Last time he spoke to the police in nearby Greerton, he told them he would start dumping recovered rubbish on the station lawn, or at the Department of Conservation office next door.
"Quite a few of us up here have got trucks. We can't take all the rubbish to the transfer station, because we don't have the money, but we can take it to the council."
'Rubbish Sheriff' shoots from the tip
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