Fly-tipping getting worse, local says
A washing machine, half-a-dozen tyres, a stove top and a banana box full of ceramic tiles are just a few of the many things dumped on the roadside south of New Plymouth.
In the past six months local resident Nigel Kivell says he has driven past loads of rubbish dumped near the intersection of State Highway 3 and Thomason Rd, Egmont Village.
The most recent dumping was the biggest he’d seen.
‘‘With the amount that was there this time, it was absolutely ridiculous,’’ Kivell, of Egmont Village, said.
‘‘Society’s tough, dump fees are expensive, but there’s no need for it. There’s ways and means and everybody’s got to pull their weight.’’
The New Plymouth District Council gets about 60 complaints a year over illegally dumped rubbish, its external relations manager Jacqueline Baker said in an emailed statement.
‘‘We continue to monitor all areas and take swift action if people dump rubbish illegally.’’
She said there are no specific hotspots for illegal rubbish dumping and that they had not received any complaints about the Egmont Village area.
However, Kivell said he’d noticed an increase in fly-tipping recently.
‘‘There’s been a bit of it going on around the place. A couple of times in particular there and a bit further up the road.
‘‘It’s just not on.’’
Kivell drives past Thomason Rd a few times a week and said the rubbish wasn’t being cleared after ‘‘low lives’’ dumped it.
‘‘It’s all still there, right across the road from where this lot is. ‘‘This is just blatant.
‘‘It’s right beside the main road, a busy two-lane road, there’s heaps of traffic. It’s just a convenience thing.
‘‘They just dump it and think they have a right to do it.
‘‘I’ve seen the odd rubbish bag sitting on the side of the road in recent times.
‘‘We’ve had everything from car tyres dumped on the corner, about six months ago. And last month it was a big banana box full of ceramic tiles, just dumped right on the side of the road.’’