The fine for littering has been $400 since 1979: Proposal seeks harsher penalty
Wednesday, 21 April 2021
The fine for littering or ‘’fly tipping’’ has been $400 since 1979 and councils need greater power to tackle the culprits dumping cars, whiteware and household waste across the countryside, says a remit going before the Gisborne District Council.
The paper says staff and councillors are frustrated at the inability to tackle the littering problem, and it’s time for change.
The council will on Thursday consider submitting a remit to Local Government NZ for consideration at its annual general meeting in July. The remit seeks that LGNZ advocates that the Litter Act 1979 “be amended to allow for ‘cost recovery’ in instances where littering/fly tipping is ‘more than minor’ and the identity of the perpetrator is discoverable”.
Since 1979 the nation’s councils’ only tool to force compliance with the Act has been a fine of up to $400.
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A proposed Bill that would have seen the maximum fine increase to $1000 was voted down at its second reading in 2019. It was thought that fines would not change behaviour, and that prosecution was available for significant offending, such as disposal of hazardous waste.
The proposed remit before Gisborne District Council argues that councils “do not currently have any tools which allow them to have discretion when an act of littering is neither minor, nor serious enough to warrant an expensive prosecution”.
The remit says the 1979 Act provided limited scope for addressing issues faced by councils, which have “long battled to address the incidence of rubbish in public places, on roadsides and in some cases, illegally on private land”.
The remit wants LGNZ to advocate for amending the Act so that councils could seek to recover costs from litterers “where the identity of the culprit is discoverable”.
“This would provide a middle ground for councils and enable the cost of dumping to be borne by those who choose to do it, rather than by the community at large,” the remit stated.
“This would also encourage councils to better serve their communities by acting on information about dumping, knowing that the cost, if proven, would not be borne by ratepayers alone,” it said.
The cost of prosecution means it is a rarely feasible option, even when the culprit is known. The current situation sees ratepayers paying for the disposal of “dumped vehicles, whiteware, building materials and household waste”.
It said the volume of waste being dumped was increasing with population growth and the rising cost of legitimate waste disposal.
“This remit seeks to address the perverse outcome of dumping rubbish potentially being significantly cheaper for individuals and businesses, than disposing of the waste legally,” it said.
It noted that the remit was not aimed at low-level offences such as individual items dropped in parks or on roadsides, or high-level offences where prosecution was appropriate, “but rather the incidence known as ‘fly tipping’ where household or business waste is disposed of in bulk and requires council resources to then remove rubbish to landfill at the cost of ratepayers”.
If the council approves the remit, it will go to a Local Government Zone meeting later this month, and if it's supported there it will go to LGNZ, which considers whether to present it at its annual general meeting.
If it’s adopted LGNZ will look at policy advocacy on behalf of the councils.