Do the right thing with rubbish

Fly-tipping. Littering. Illegal rubbish dumping.

Whatever you call it, it’s not great for a bunch of reasons – it pollutes the environment, spoils our shared spaces, can be dangerous for people and animals and costs lots of money to clear up.

Brace yourself: every year about $60,000 of Council’s operational spend is avoidably diverted to clean up illegally dumped rubbish. That’s rates money we all pay.

We know disposing of rubbish can be costly and this could be a driver of fly-tipping. We also know that all sorts of people (and businesses) do it for all sorts of reasons, not just to save a few bucks.

But dumping rubbish in our communities and natural places isn’t the answer to your waste problems and, like we say, $60k every year.

The good news is there are loads of ways to get rid of your excess waste that don’t (literally) cost the earth.

You can:

• Seek out a new home for your unwanted stuff. Try your community networks or op shops to see if someone needs what you’ve got – you’d be surprised by what people are looking for.
• Make use of FREE e-waste recycling stations at the Otaihanga Resource Recovery Facility and Ōtaki Resource Recovery Centre.
• Fix that toaster! Keep an eye out for repair café events to get malfunctioning kit another shot. It’s often a quick fix.
• Shocking amounts of organic waste goes to NZ landfills every year. Get your green waste into the compost and free up bin space for what really needs leave the property.
• The re-use shop at the Otaihanga Resource Recovery Centre might be interested in things with a bit of life left in them.
• Know the drill with your recyclables – what’s accepted and what’s not. You can get rid of things like plastic, glass and cardboard for FREE at our transfer stations.

Seen someone doing the bad thing? Report illegal rubbish dumping to us.