A fridge was among the items dumped.
Multiple dumpings of 450kg worth household rubbish at one site in Porirua took nearly four hours for Council staff to clear away on Thursday morning.
The dumpings took place near the entrance to Bothamley Park, off Champion St.
Along with wood and paper, there was a fridge, a car’s dashboard and a lot of food waste, the latter representing a health and safety hazard for the community and staff.
Two Council workers from the Streetworks team took close to four hours to remove in two truck loads, wearing personal protective equipment gear in case of contamination from COVID-19,” Chris Herbert, Manager Operations Support says.
“Most of it was loose stuff, not in shopping bags and in three big piles – one load had obviously been put into a truck and then dumped, and then maybe added to by others people,” he says.
“We’re pretty busy at the moment doing other important things around the city, so this was really disappointing. We had to move fast because of the food that was scattered around.”
Many Council staff are working seven days a week at Porirua’s Emergency Operations Centre helping respond to a raft of issues arising from the COVID-19 lockdown, Mr Herbert says.
“Council staff have been redeployed into other areas, helping out our city at this critical time. Incidents like these dumpings don’t help when we’re wanting to help those most in need in our community.”
Mr Herbert says among the rubbish dumped was evidence of who may have committed the act and infringement notices would be issued.
3 Apr 2020
