Aucklanders 'aghast' at firework rubbish littering Mission Bay
Tuesday, 6 November 2018
An Auckland woman woke up to find a popular beach covered in thousands of dead fireworks.
Sophie Lister, who was house sitting in Mission Bay, said the sight made her blood boil.
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'I was on my morning run at about 6.45 this morning and I saw a pile of rubbish and thought 'that's disgusting',' she said on Tuesday.
'Then I looked up to see the whole beach was covered in fireworks everywhere I could see, as well as alcohol bottles, pizza boxes and metal sparklers.'
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The occupational therapist said the bins were full to overflowing and council staff were working to clear the mess.
'I couldn't believe what I was seeing - I'm embarrassed of the human race.
'Most of the fireworks were still in the place they had been when they were let off - people had just walked away from it, no attempt to clean it up.'
She said some had probably already been washed away in the high tide.
Auckland Council has called for public submissions on whether the private sale of fireworks should be banned.
An informal Auckland Council Facebook poll asked the public whether they think fireworks laws are fine as they are, or should be restricted to public displays only.
Of the 13,800 respondents, 75 per cent said there should be public displays only.
Mission Bay had been cleared by 9am on Tuesday, but Lister said the mess shouldn't be left for council workers to clear.
'That's not okay, that's not a culture we want to get into - it makes me so angry.'
Another woman was appalled by the contamination left over from Guy Fawkes celebrations.
She too spotted the mess on an early morning walk, and said it warranted a discussion about tighter controls on fireworks.
'I don't want to be a killjoy but when you balance up the negative effects of damage to people and property, distress to animals and the environmental impact of the firework chemicals and the contaminated rubbish against the fun of having an unsupervised play with pyrotechnics, it just doesn't add up.'
She thought there should be a limit to the sale of fireworks to the general public and legislations to make it make it easier for people to organise controlled displays, instead by having comprehensive and accessible training and licensing.
'That way people get to enjoy more spectacular and Instagram worthy fireworks while keeping our people, property, pets and the environment safe.'
The fireworks were being set off at the popular beach from sundown until at least 10pm.
A witness said she saw teens running around with roman candle-type fireworks across the grassed park area when she left the nearby cinema.
Meanwhile, firefighters across the city were busy with a series of Guy Fawkes night-related callouts.
Fire crews in the northern catchment – everything from Turangi, at the southern tip of Lake Taupo, north – attended about 54 jobs between 8pm-10pm on Monday.
About 40 of those were fireworks related, said Fire and Emergency spokeswoman Megan Ruru.
She said it was a relatively quiet night, probably because it was school night.
'Normally, when Guy Fawkes falls over the weekend there have been up to 200-300 calls for Auckland alone over a 24-hour period.'
The busiest period on Monday was around 9.10pm when five crews were called to a large blaze burning scrub on the side of Mt Wellington.
The fire was burning a large circle, approximately 40m x 40m in size, and was caused by fireworks.
Police said there was nothing of note overnight, in terms of officer callouts.
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