Zero tolerance for dumping rubbish
Zero tolerance for dumping rubbish – help us dob
in a dumper
From roadsides of the Coromandel to
kiwi zones and private farms, illegally dumped rubbish is
rearing its ugly head and offenders are warned: even our
Mayor is out to get you.
Fines of up to $20,000 are
available to our Council for anyone caught illegally dumping
anywhere in the District as well as instant $400 fines for
littering. With the help of vigilant residents in our
communities, there are eyes everywhere.
“We are
cracking down. Our Compliance Officers are regularly
monitoring known dumping sites and anyone identified for
littering or dumping rubbish in our district will face legal
action and a ‘name and shame’ through the courts,”
says Steve Hart, Team Leader, TCDC Bylaws and
Compliance.
“When fly dumping is occurring on private
property, our compliance officers can investigate and issue
infringements under the Litter Act 1979 once an offender can
be identified and a case proven.”
Members of the Manaia
community south of Coromandel have reported exhasperation at
the scourge of illegal rubbish dumping as well as dumping of
furniture and appliances on their land. The Council is
working with them to help get a prosecution and stop further
offending.
“We’ve had community people picking up
rubbish along the Manaia Road but there is no one to help
the poor farmers who are getting all sorts of junk –
bottles of course, old stoves, mattresses, fridges etc and
some of these landowners are almost at their wits end,”
says one resident. “Is there anything that can be
done?”
Any private property owner experiencing this
problem should lodge a complaint through our ‘request for
service’ (RFS) system simply by phoning TCDC's customer service team on
07 868 0200. This way Council staff can initiate an
investigation on private land.
Council staff will go to
the lengths necessary to investigate who is responsible for
illegal rubbish including picking through individual items
and wading in waterways to find evidence of the
perpetrators.
Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie is
among those heartily sick of illegal dumping and has warned
that she takes the offending on our Coromandel
personally.
“There’s a zero tolerance on any form of
littering and dumping, and if somebody has dumped a rubbish
bag on the side of the road, I’m not above going through
it and finding out who it is, shoving it on their doorstep
and giving them a wake-up call.”
Rubbish and recycling
collections have been stepped up for the peak summer season
and the opening hours for our Refuse Transfer Stations have
also increased so there are no excuses.
TCDC
Communications and Marketing Manager Laurna White says the
Council has also stepped up communications with targeted
campaigns to ensure people know that our summer refuse
transfer stations opening hours are now in effect.
“All
our refuse transfer stations are open until 5:30pm each
Saturday and 6:30pm on Sundays. They are open on all public
holidays (Sunday hours apply), except for Christmas
Day.
“If you vacate a property on a day that is not a
collection day you must drop your blue bag directly at the
Refuse Transfer Station (RTS) or Drop Off facility upon
departure for home. Our transfer stations are open until
7:30pm on Sundays so you have plenty of time to drop in on
the way out of town.”
Help us spread the word.
View our RTS opening hours and
locations
Rubbish, recycling and
refuse transfer stations over the summer
Our
seven refuse transfer stations across the District are now
open longer hours over the summer and extra Kerbside rubbish
and recycling collections start on Monday 26 December in
most areas of the Coromandel.
Our smaller refuse transfer
stations (RTSs) in Coromandel, Matarangi, Tairua and Pauanui
are now open seven days a week until Sunday 26 February 2017
and are open later on weekends and public holidays over this
period.
Our larger RTSs in Whitianga, Whangamata and
Thames are open seven days a week, as usual, but also have
extended weekend and public holiday opening hours.
All
our RTSs are closed on Christmas Day but are open every
other day until 26 February. Our non-summer hours resume on
27 February.
Check our web page www.tcdc.govt.nz/rts for hours
and locations of our RTSs.
And on Boxing Day, 26
December, our summer schedule of extra Kerbside rubbish and
recycling collections begins.
In most areas of the
Coromandel there will be one or two extra collections every
week of rubbish and recycling.
This extra collection
schedule runs until 11 February 2017.
Check our Kerbside
web page, www.tcdc.govt.nz/kerbside, for
the collection schedule, or scroll down to find the schedule
for your area.
Collection days remain the same throughout
the Coromandel after the Christmas and New Year's public
holidays, but are a day later after the Auckland Anniversary
and Waitangi Day holidays at the end of January and early
February next year.
Glass can be left for pick-up in any
sturdy crate, it doesn't have to be a Council-branded crate.
Don't use cardboard boxes as these can get wet and break
when they're lifted, and please don't use crates that are so
big that when they're full they can't be lifted by our
contractors.
And remember, if you're leaving the District
before rubbish and recycling pick-up day in your area, you
can leave rubbish in pre-paid blue Council bags and
recycling for FREE at any of our RTSs.
Kerbside
rubbish and recycling schedule:
www.tcdc.govt.nz/kerbside
RTS
hours and locations:
www.tcdc.govt.nz/rts