No business should knowingly be polluting

OPINION: Hundreds of companies have dumped contaminants into sewers, breaching their trade waste consents. None have been prosecuted or even fined. Councils say a legal loophole means they have no power to issue fines. Why hasn’t the Government acted? An MP from each side of the House gives their views.

evident in New Zealand.

Therefore, businesses here will be helping themselves by cleaning up their act.

Businesses that continually fail to meet their responsibilities should face consequences, but councils need to act too.

They cannot simply point the finger at businesses while their waste water infrastructure is failing.

We only need to look at Wellington’s sewage debacle last week to see the astonishing levels of delayed maintenance that has occurred.

And in Auckland, the waste water system is often overwhelmed, leading to faecal contamination of local beaches which are then unsafe for swimming.

There will always be those who try to take shortcuts, and there should be commensurate costs for doing so.

These costs for businesses will sometimes be measured in the damage to their corporate image and loss in the value of their brands that are so hard to win, and very easy to lose.

What has become clear, though, is that councils need to act alongside businesses.

New Zealand has a growing population, and local bodies need to ensure that the infrastructure meets the requirements necessary. At the same time, all of us need to understand our obligations and responsibilities. We cannot expect things to change overnight.

But if we change our attitude as individuals it will go a long way to preserving the clean, green image New Zealand is so widely known and respected for.