Insulation experts EXPOL were today made aware of a social media post on Craig Lord’s Mayoral Candidate Facebook page showing an illegal dumping of polystyrene in a section of Puhinui stream Wiri.

The post came about after one of his supporters made contact to let him know what had happened.

“Brent Condon was the man who first found it in the creek as he works close to it and he then advised me. I’ve been making a lot of noise lately about cleaning up Auckland so he wanted me to know about it.”

Expol made contact pretty quickly to offer their assistance in the clean-up and recycling of the materials.

“What an awesome message to receive” said Lord after initial contact. “They asked if it was still there, and the location, so I contacted Brent and linked them together. They immediately sent a truck and a team to go clean it up.”

Lord says it shows there is plenty of good in people – except for those who dumped the product in the first place.

“It’s not even their own product. But they fully recycle polystyrene and they didn’t hesitate to offer their services. It actually shows me two things. 1. That EXPOL is a community minded company with impeccable integrity, and 2, proof that Social Media is incredibly powerful.”

The issue of finding illegal dumpers is an ongoing situation for Auckland Council, but Lord believes there are ways to slow it down.

“We need to bring back the regular inorganic collections, we need to change the mindset of recycling with incentives, we need to dramatically reduce the cost of taking waste to the refuse stations, and we must without hesitation proceed in the building of a Waste to Energy Plant.”

Lord has been vocal in his goal to stop future landfills being built and to try curb the illegal dumping and he has amassed a strong following on Social Media for the same.

“If I make it in as Mayor in October the 20 other Councillors will need to sit up and listen to the ideas, as the public want to make a change in the way we do things now. And, if it ends up being the majority of the same Councillors who get back in, they’ll need to double up on their action given they are the ones who voted yes for declaring a climate emergency.”

For now, Lord is pleased that he is able to rally the public to instigate change and action while he’s just a candidate, and it has given him hope for what can be achieved if in office.

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