Recycle bins become dumping grounds
Overflowing recycling bins are becoming a dumping ground for unwanted goods across central Auckland.
Point Chevalier resident Tania Sunde, a children’s art teacher, lives near One Two Six Church’s clothing bin.
She said the bin gets misused all the time.
Over Waitangi weekend she woke to see more dumped around the clothing bin than she had seen in the 20 years she’s lived there.
A few weeks before that she watched a woman leave three full suitcases beside the bin.
Sunde said she did not want children getting the wrong idea about dumping.
’’Kids are walking to school every morning and the school bus drives past it too and when kids see that they think it’s an acceptable thing to do.’’
Sunde took matters into her own hands by documenting and posting photos of the dumped goods on neighbourly.co.nz to highlight the issue.
One Two Six Church leader Bruce Edmonds said it was a common issue and people needed to take responsibility.
‘‘During the day they don’t dump, they only do it at night or in the early morning,’’ Edmonds said.
‘‘Regardless it’s good for people to be able to bring their clothes here and as neighbours we need to look out for one another.’’
And the issue isn’t specific to Point Chevalier. On neighbourly.co.nz residents across Auckland have reported the same issue.
Rhonda Poching from Mount Albert said there used to be a clothing bin adjacent to Owairaka primary school.
The bin had since been removed but rubbish was still being dumped there. building up around them, sometimes people feel desperate and resort to clandestine rubbish dumping, simply because they feel they have no other way to deal with it.’’
Southside Recycling Centre, which owns the bin across from Sunde, did not wish to comment.