850kg of Flaxmere rubbish ever week

More rubbish is collected weekly from parks in Flaxmere than from Hastings urban centre and its rural parks combined.

Hastings District Council collects approximately 850kg of rubbish from Flaxmere’s open space areas every week.

Hastings District Council Parks Manager Derek Thompson said that although a small percentage of refuse is generated onsite, predominantly the waste is brought into the various parks and dumped there.

“In Chatham Park especially, rubbish is a real issue. There are three bins there and they are all full every day. Then there is the same amount again left by the bins. We expect the ice-block wrappers but 95% of the rubbish we pick up comes from elsewhere: car parts, fridges, mattresses, television sets, and between 3 and 10 bags of household waste on top of that,” said Mr Thompson.

Dominic Salmon, Hastings District Council’s Waste Minimisation Officer, said there were a number of options open to people when it came to disposing of their household waste.

“A lot of the rubbish we find in Chatham Park is recyclable and with a recycle centre only a kilometre away it is frustrating people don’t take their waste there. The council refuse transfer stations take recyclables and orange council rubbish bags for free. Perhaps people see the Council bags as too expensive but there is no cost on the rates to cover them and so it is a very fair system. Besides, we find orange council bags dumped in parks as well,” Mr Salmon said.

Dominic Salmon also said he would be holding a meeting with relevant council staff in the coming week to determine better ways to police and enforce the issue of illegal dumping in open space throughout Hastings District.

Unusual items found among the rubbish left at Flaxmere parks have included offal and entrails, including animal heads and hides; a shopping bag full of marijuana and money; a full colostomy bag; and, a mechanical sex-aid.

Havelock North has less open space but the same population size as Flaxmere, however a quarter the amount of rubbish is collected from its parks.

ENDS

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