Warwick Jaine On The Massive Problem That Is Illegal Dumping

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Hey, we were going to start there. We're going to talk rubbish.

[00:00:03]Oh, yeah, how do you change? Every day you're talking rubbish. No, I'm talking illegal dumping. It's becoming a growing problem. Um especially across Auckland, but it's not just in the city, the big city, the big smoke. The council receives more than 24,000, has received more than 24,000 reports of illegal dumping in the past year.

[00:00:22]That is a big jump from the year before. Nearly half of those in South Auckland. It's not just the small stuff. We're talking everything from mattresses to building waste, couches, toilets turning up on roadsides and and empty sections. The council says around 2,000 tons of rubbish is dumped illegally every year.

[00:00:43]Costs the ratepayers between two and three million dollars annually to clean up. And while some of it ends up on council's land, a lot of it is on private property, which makes it even harder to deal with. The council's acting general manager waste solutions is Warwick Jaine, who says illegal dumping is a regional wide problem and not confined to any single community.

[00:01:07]And Warwick joins me now. Good afternoon.

[00:01:11]Good afternoon. Thanks. Uh 24,000 reports in a year. I mean, those are the ones that were just reported. Any thoughts, Warwick, on why the jump in numbers of dumping incidents?

[00:01:23]Uh look, this is a this is an Auckland wide issue, okay? Um uh South Auckland accounts for around 40% 47% of reports uh with 53% occurring elsewhere. Um and the distribution reflects population size, land use, housing density.

[00:01:47]Um but also just awareness of people reporting it. So, you know, we've got a it's a very big issue out there.

[00:01:55]Um and you know, our ratepayers doesn't like that don't like it. No one likes it. No.

[00:02:00]>> And yeah, so >> Um okay, so so you've mentioned it could be also more people reporting. So, so you're not quite sure. Do you think it's more incidents of dumping or or so the amount of people now calling it in?

[00:02:15]It's a blend.

[00:02:17]Um we uh you know, we we um we have a mix of education, services, enforcement, and community partnerships. And we're constantly, you know, reviewing what works.

[00:02:30]Um we have proactive and reactive cleanups going on.

[00:02:34]Um we um you know, we we have promotion through um through digital, you know, um means and through radio networks. Um so, yes, there's is a blend of, you know, um you know, material being placed out as well as what's being reported. Which is which is I was going to say that is great.

[00:03:02]But at two to three million dollars a year to clean up at cost of the ratepayer, should maybe penalties be a lot larger or focused more on?

[00:03:12]We have we have a an enforcement program, okay?

[00:03:19]Um we have issued 473 fines over the past over the last year.

[00:03:25]Um uh there is the the the fines can reach um $400 um up to $400 and and there's also court penalties of up to three 30,000 dollars when there's a prosecution. Um How often do that does that happen, Warwick? The prosecutions, the big ones.

[00:03:48]Oh, they're very difficult cases, okay, um to prove, but we probably get sort of one to two a year um through the actual court. Um uh the fines is the most um uh uh are the are the ones where we have better powers on. Um and I will say that from the 2,000 odd jobs that we get per month, um we have uh we go out and investigate the pile.

[00:04:18]We knock on doors. We issue notices around and around 6 to 800 of those jobs actually uh result in the material um uh taken back into the property. Okay.

[00:04:32]Uh so, there is a there is a strict process of of education, as I've said, um awareness, uh talking to, you know, you know, people in the local area there and and we are successful before you get fined.

[00:04:50]That's the Um so, you're dealing with the council's dealing This is Auckland Council dealing with around 2,000 dumping jobs a month, but only according to your stats, 30 to 40% uh with the offender being contacted or removing the rubbish. So, it's the other 60 to 70 of those cases get what cleaned up at the cost of the us, the ratepayer.

[00:05:14]Yeah, look, we'll we'll we'll pursue a um uh you know, an investigation where there's clear evidence, okay? Um if it's placed outside a household, but then if if it's if it's dumped in a park, if it's um you know, if we don't have a clear um you know, trail, then we'll just, you know, we'll eradicate it. We will pick it up. And, you know, the quicker we can pick it up, the cleaner the streets look. And we we we prevent the copycat um effect of, you know, um you know, people adding to the pile.