Pay dump in rates

Yes, dumping waste on the roadside is disgusting, but let’s look a little closer at the problem.

If you are on the basic wage and live some distance from any dump site, you have a choice. Spend about all your earnings for half a day’s work on extra mileage and an exorbitant dumping fee or do just that.

Worse still, you are on an unemployment benefit and have to choose between the fee alone and feeding your family reasonably better for a week. Or between it and buying one child a school jersey.

In those situations, the temptation could be overwhelming. “There is no charge f or recyclable items.” When it costs at least $45 to get them into the site?

It cost the ratepayers nearly a third of $1 million to clean up the illegal dumpsites found. That’s the equivalent of over 700 minimum dumping fees.

There seems to be an excellent case for including waste costs in rates and making legal dumping free, including having accessible dump sites in outlying areas.

I doubt that this would cost most productive businesses any more than their present costs.

Nationally, any intelligent government would consider not increasing charges to punish people more who do the right thing by increasing charges, but by placing refundable charges on containers etc. at retail level, with a consequent financial incentive to dump legally. John G Rawson Whangarei