Latest news with #illegaldumping
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Warning to illegal rubbish dumpers: new rules could lead to crack-down
Clearing up the worst dumping spots costs Heretaunga-Hastings ratepayers more than $100,000 a year, councillor Wendy Schollum says, and she wants councils to have better enforcement options (file photo). Photo: Supplied/ Hastings District Council Fly-tippers illegally dumping rubbish could be in for a shock if new laws are passed making it easier for councils to prosecute them, and to crack down on them using clues such as old car registration plates or names on letters or mail. The government has proposed revisions to the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) and the Litter Act 1979 (the Litter Act), including giving authorities more flexibility to help them crack down on illegal dumping. Hastings District Councillor Wendy Schollum told Checkpoint that illegal rubbish dumping was an ongoing issue in the community, but the council was currently limited in its ability to do much about the fly-tippers. Annually, picking up litter in Heretaunga-Hastings cost well over $100,000, council staff had told her - "and that was only in hot-spot areas, so that wasn't even across the whole district," she said. Wendy Schollum Photo: Supplied via LDR "We estimated that if we were to try and clear every space of litter, it would cost in excess of over $1 million." The types of rubbish being dumped in the area varied from everday litter, to households worth of rubbish, including whiteware and mattresses. "It's actually quite outrageous some of the stuff that gets left," Schollum said. Hastings District Council was not alone in the problem, but critics say it is difficult to hold offenders to account under laws written in the 70s, with offenders basically needing to be caught in the act. "When I first was elected onto council back in 2017, right from then until now, littering and dumping has been the number one issue with ratepayers in our area," Schollum said. But at the moment, even with overwhelming evidence, the council often could not do much in response, she said: "Unless someone was literally standing there watching the person do it at the time, under the current law, there is so little we can do." A consultation document on the law changes also noted the problem: The current Waste Minimisation Act "provides limited CME [compliance, monitoring and enforcement] powers. Prosecution is the main means to address non-compliance, with maximum fines of $100,00 for all main offences at a central government level, [and] $20,000 for a breach of bylaws." But in effect that meant: "For ... offences [other than non-payment of the levy] prosecution through the courts is the only enforcement option, which is limiting because prosecution can be a disproportionate regulatory response to non-compliance, [and] if non-compliance falls below the prosecution threshold, no consequences can arise from breach of the WMA." Schollum said the current loophole leaves ratepayers footing the bill for fly-tippers. "In an area like Heretaunga, where they've been hit by Cyclone Gabrielle and we're reeling from recovery costs, our ratepayers don't need to be paying for what is frankly laziness." She believes the problem was caused by bad attitudes, rather than issues affording dump fees. "Often people contact me and say, 'well, if you reduce the dump fees, people wouldn't litter'. The reality is that if that were the case, we would see in areas where it's cheaper or free to dispose of rubbish that there would be no illegal dumping at all and that's just not the case. "The evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact it's about attitudes." Under the proposed changes, evidence like addressed mail left in dumped rubbish could be used to identify dumpers and fine them. (file photo) Photo: Supplied/Gisborne District Council The consultation document also suggests a new tiered compliance system, with different penalties for different levels of offence. This could range from small infringements where a warning might be suitable, for example for "illegal plastic bag use" or minor littering, through to mid-range offences where the most severe consequences were not suitable, up to the most severe consequences, for behaviour like "high-harm illegal dumping". Schollum said tiered enforcement options would be helpful to the council: "If someone threw their takeaway container out their car window, they're not going to be met with the same sort of penalty as someone who dumps a whole house ... worth of rubbish [in] the community area. "This is about councils finally being able to pursue repeat offenders and stop communities having to pay for the cost of laziness, but only with reasonable evidence." The revisions could also distinguish between individuals and larger entities committing offences, and define offences and maximum fees, penalties and prosecution. Schollum said despite enthusiasm from the community to help in clearing the litter, other frustrating barriers have stood in the way. "Some of the worst hit areas are actually NZTA managed lands, and at the moment, because of health and safety rules with NZTA we can't even arrange community clean ups on their land." Even though these set backs have limited community clean ups, Schollum said it should not be the community's job in the first place. "We shouldn't be having to look at the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff solution, which is the community spending their money and time trying to clean up other people's mess. We need to stop the dumping and the littering in the first place." Other changes in the proposal include adjusting how local councils are allocated funds to dispose of waste, widening what councils can use the funds for and clarifying who is responsible for what. Consultation for the potential law changes closed on 1 June, the Ministry for the Environment website said. Next, the submissions will be considered, and from there Cabinet could decide to create an amendment bill, which could be introduced to Parliament to pursue changing the existing law. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Calgary woman charged in relation to headless deer carcass left in northeast parking lot
Charges have been filed against a Calgary woman in relation to a headless white-tailed deer carcass that was left in a northeast parking lot last December. Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers were called to the Monterey Square Plaza area on Dec. 16 for a report of a carcass of a mature white-tailed buck left near some commercial dumpsters. The deer was found behind the Co-op grocery store, located at the northeast corner of 68th Street and16th Avenue N.E. Security footage from the scene showed two people, a male and a female, dumping the body on Dec. 15 around 12 p.m. Wednesday, Alberta Fish and Wildlife posted on their Facebook and X pages that the two suspects had been identified. (1/2) Following further investigation, Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services has identified two people involved in dumping a headless white-tailed deer carcass in a Calgary parking lot in Dec 2024. Thank you to those who helped with this investigation. — Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement (@FWEnforcement) June 4, 2025 They said a Calgary woman was charged and pled guilty to multiple offences including unlawful possession of wildlife, abandonment of big game (wastage), providing false/misleading information to fish and wildlife officers, operating a vehicle while suspended, and improper disposal of waste on private property. On April 30, the woman was fined $3,000. A second person faces similar charges. They're scheduled to appear in court on August 6. Officers continue their investigation into how the deer was obtained. They believe that neither suspect was responsible for killing the animal.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
Antelope Valley residents say they are fed up with rampant dumping, official inaction
Eric Eller likes to ride his dirt bikes through the canyons, dry riverbeds and rocky outcroppings of the Antelope Valley in the high desert north of Los Angeles. Eller's an off-the-grid kind of guy with a "Mad Max" vibe — living in a house on a remote plot of land next to a jury-rigged trailer where he tinkers with the remnants and pieces of gutted automobiles, motorcycles and other mechanical debris. But Eller's isolation was obliterated last June when dozens of big dump trucks began snaking up the dirt road behind his house and discarding their loads into the nearby dry river canyon. The caravan of waste-haulers continued in the days that followed, often arriving after sundown or in the dark hours before dawn. Two months later, the convoys abruptly stopped. But not before the makeshift dump's surface had been camouflaged with dirt and mulch — much of which has since blown away, revealing a 30-foot-deep noxious stew of chopped-up concrete, plastic tampon applicators, faded plastic children's toys, toothbrushes, syringes, empty caulking tubes, two-by-fours, faded books, weathered Styrofoam pipe insulation, plastic bucket tops and more. Across the Antelope Valley, waste trucks are hauling garbage in from the Greater Los Angeles area and Central Valley towns such as Bakersfield, and then dumping it at makeshift sites. Letters, bills and envelopes visible at several of these waste sites in April showed addresses in Pacoima, Los Angeles and Van Nuys, among other cities. "Illegal dumping has been a problem in the Antelope Valley for decades," said Chuck Bostwick, a senior field deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents much of the area. "But it's gotten worse in the last two or three years, markedly worse." In some cases, such as the site behind Eller's home, the waste sites are flat-out unauthorized. No landowner has given permission to dump at the site, and the waste consists of construction, household and medical debris. But in others cases, the waste-haulers have the landowners' permission to dump — but are disposing waste that should be going to landfills equipped to handle household and industrial waste, lawsuits claim. In one lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, residents claim that major residential waste-hauling companies including Athens Services, California Waste Services and Universal Waste Systems are dumping hazardous substances without authorization. The suit claims these companies are disguising the construction and demolition debris as "green waste by unlawfully covering this waste with highly flammable wood chips and other organic waste." Eric Casper, the president of California Waste Services, said in an email that his company has "never engaged in dumping waste of any kind, at any time, in the Antelope Valley — legal or illegal. Nor anywhere else." Athens Services also denied any illegal dumping, saying in a statement that California's organics recycling law "encourages sending compostable material to third parties such as farmers and other property owners for beneficial use. This is the material that Athens Services produces and distributes." Universal Waste Systems and other companies named in the suit didn't respond to requests for comment, nor have they filed responses to the federal suit. Residents say there are more than 100 dump sites scattered throughout the valley — from Lake Los Angeles to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve and north to Mojave — that they contend are unauthorized. Some of these sites cover hundreds of acres and extend dozens of feet deep. And residents worry that what they can see — from the roads or their homes — is just the tip of a malodorous and malignant iceberg, and that there are probably dozens more they haven't yet identified. They complain they are plagued by the toxic, sour and rotten-egg like smells emanating from the discarded trash that cooks in the hot sun and then wafts across their properties. They also note that the flammable mulch and other materials in the dump, combined with a broiling desert sun, makes for an acute fire risk. Between 2020 and 2024, the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 42 mulch or trash-related fires in the Antelope Valley, ranging from a quarter-acre to 22 acres, ultimately costing taxpayers roughly $1.6 million to extinguish, according to Los Angeles County documents. Ashley Mroz, who lives in the Antelope Valley community of Neenach, said a mulch-covered dump site spontaneously combusted near her home last summer. "It had been smoldering for days and days," said Mroz, one of the plaintiffs in the federal court suit. "We could not even go outside. The smell was so horrific." And the scourge has spread beyond the dump sites: Shredded plastic debris can be seen hanging from roadside Joshua trees and creosote bushes. While a midday view across the arid landscape reveals a sea of glimmering, reflective glass shards, like the tips of cresting waves over a vast, brown ocean. According to Antelope Valley residents and the federal suit, property owners in some cases have given permission — and received payments for — waste to be dumped on their land. Not only do these sites pose a nuisance to the neighbors who live adjacent to or near them, in some cases the material being dumped includes industrial and household waste that can leach into the groundwater. In its statement, Athens pointed out that property owners sometimes give permission to accept material from multiple waste companies. "To the extent there are any instances of noncompliant material, we are confident the evidence will demonstrate that it came from another source," Athens said. On a blustery day in April in the high desert town of Adelanto, local residents watched as two dump trucks offloaded their waste into a San Bernardino county-certified organic waste dump site that is surrounded by eight- to 10-foot high berms of mulch-like waste laced with shredded plastic, insulated wires and chopped-up, plastic children's toys. Through a break in the berm, the residents could see that the ground around the recently dumped haul glittered in the sunlight with broken glass, while stalks of what appeared to be insulated wires and rigid plastic stood sentry across the 138-acre expanse. Two men sitting in a silver GMC pickup truck who were watching the disposal drove over to the gawking residents. When the residents asked who they were and what the trucks were dumping, the men declined to answer and referred questions to the owner of the property, which The Times later determined to be Kevin Sutton, the owner of a company called Circle Green Inc. Sutton didn't respond to requests for comment. As neighbors and a Times reporter and photographer drove away from the site, the silver pickup followed for several miles, tailgating and swerving erratically. The truck turned around only when the small caravan came across a handful of heavily armed California Fish and Game law enforcement agents parked alongside the road. "It's the Wild West out here," said Kristina Brown, a Lancaster property owner who is a party to the federal suit. The Antelope Valley's proximity to Los Angeles and its vast stretches of wild desert make it a prime target for unauthorized dumping. Sitting at roughly 3,000 feet above sea level, and surrounded by the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona and San Gabriel mountains, the valley is also divided by jurisdiction — with Los Angeles, Kern and San Bernardino counties all claiming some territory. "For decades, our illegal dumping was small-time stuff," said Bostwick, Supervisor Barger's field deputy. "It was somebody who had a sofa they couldn't be bothered to take to the dump or they didn't want to pay, so they dumped it out in the desert. There was commercial dumping then, but it was small time as well." But then the state's waste laws changed, he said. Starting in 1989, California began requiring municipalities to divert 50% of their waste away from landfill and toward more sustainable waste management solutions, such as recycling and compost. And as Bostwick noted, the vast open spaces of the Antelope Valley beckoned. In 2022, lawmakers implemented Senate Bill 1383, which initially mandated the diversion of 50% of all food and organic waste away from landfills, but increased to 75% on Jan. 1, 2025. Another 2020 law closed a loophole that had allowed waste companies to dump green waste in landfill, but not have it counted against them. As a result, the need for dumping grounds increased again. Cities, counties and towns that fail to meet the diversion rates risk fines of up to $10,000 a day. Residents, lawmakers and experts say while the spirit of these laws is noble, in many areas of the state, the infrastructure to handle the diverted waste is lacking — especially in Southern California, where there is not nearly enough farmland or water to handle the increased volumes of green waste leaving the region's cities and suburbs. As a result, waste companies and haulers — trying to keep costs down and maintain city contracts — are tempted to dump the waste wherever they can, while local governments are reluctant to crack down on violations, Bostwick said. State regulations have made "disposal much more expensive and hard to deal with, and so that's increased the financial incentives for companies or individuals to just dump illegally," he said. There's also very little enforcement. According to Los Angeles County data, while taxpayers spent roughly $1.3 million between 2017 and 2018 to mitigate illegal waste disposal in the region, that number jumped nearly fourfold in 2022-2023, when taxpayers had to foot $4.46 million to mitigate the problem. At the same time, the number of cases filed with the Environmental Crimes Division of the district attorney's office decreased from 15 in 2019 to three in 2023. In February, CalRecycle, the state's waste agency, finalized emergency orders they say should empower local law enforcement agencies to stop the illegal disposal. Previous regulations only allowed for action against the owner of land where the disposal was occurring. The new orders allow enforcement officials to target parties that are dumping the materials and the facilities that provided the material. The orders came after officials from the state agency came to visit the area in October 2024 — prodded by Brown, Mroz and other local residents, many of whom have spent years calling state and local officials about the problem. Enforcement of these orders, however, is the responsibility of the county, said Lance Klug, a spokesman for the state waste agency. "Local enforcement agencies can best speak to their enforcement actions to date, and any anticipated next steps, now that emergency regulations are in effect," he said. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted a measure last year requiring mulch suppliers to take back any contaminated or illegal waste dumped on private land. The measure, which was sponsored by Barger, also directed county agencies to require "stringent record keeping for all land application operations regarding the origin of all incoming loads and testing results from all mulch suppliers." County officials couldn't immediately provide numbers recently when asked how many enforcement actions had been taken. "There's literally no enforcement," said Brown, who worries that the situation is only going to get worse. Last month, Eller was riding his dirt bike when he stumbled upon a 60-acre expanse of freshly dumped construction debris, medical waste and compost on a plot of land miles away from any major road. The tire marks from dump trucks hadn't yet been blown away by the incessant gales of the high desert. No fences or berms were erected to contain the site, making it impossible to see from the road or along the horizon. He said it feels like they are living in a real-life game of whack-a-mole: As soon as he and his neighbors identify and report one site, the haulers move onto another. And they say they feel abandoned by regulators, who they say are doing nothing to stop it. "It feels like we're screaming into the wind," Brown said. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CBS News
11-05-2025
- CBS News
Oakland residents outraged over illegal dumping by Tesla Cybertruck driver
Illegal dumping continues to plague Oakland, costing the city millions of dollars each year. The latest incident — involving a Tesla Cybertruck — has left residents angry and demanding stronger consequences. Andrea Taylor was driving home Thursday evening around 5:45 p.m. when she witnessed a man dumping construction debris from the back of a Cybertruck on Campbell Street, near 24th Street and just a block and a half from Raimondi Park. "My initial reaction, frankly, was just disappointment, and then anger and frustration," said Taylor, who lives in the neighborhood. She immediately began filming the incident with her phone, capturing footage of the man standing on the back of the truck. In the video, Taylor can be heard calling out the man: "Dumping in Oakland, that's so [expletive], bro." Taylor said what stood out most was the type of vehicle involved. The license plate was linked to a 2025 Tesla Cybertruck. "If they can afford that vehicle, they can afford to go to the dump," she said. Another witness driving by also recorded the illegal dumping. Oakland residents are outraged after a Tesla Cybertruck driver was caught on camera dumping construction material. Andrea Taylor "He was pulling, what I saw specifically was this thing," Taylor recalled, pointing at a large wooden plank. Most of the trash left behind appeared to be leftover hardwood flooring. Illegal dumping has long been an issue in West Oakland. Much of Campbell Street is lined with discarded mattresses, couches, tires, and construction debris. "It just shows a level of entitlement and disrespect to every person here," said Duy Tran, a manager at the nearby Max's Gym. City spokesperson Sean Maher confirmed that the Environmental Enforcement Team is investigating. Taylor reported both the license plate and vehicle identification number (VIN) to the city. The City of Oakland even posted a photo from Taylor's video on its official Facebook page, urging residents to record and report any illegal dumping activity. "He doesn't think twice about it. He doesn't feel like he's doing anything wrong. Broad daylight, all of that," said Suzette Bradley, a Max's Gym member who frequently sees trash pileups in the neighborhood. According to the latest available city data, in fiscal year 2021–2022, Oakland Public Works crews collected about 17,000 tons of illegally dumped trash — the equivalent of 34 million pounds. In 2023 alone, the city issued at least 405 citations for illegal dumping, 42 of which were based on camera footage. "That's ridiculous. It's disheartening to see. Do the right thing. Take care of your own garbage," said Tran. The fine for a first illegal dumping offense in Oakland can be up to $750, but residents argue that monetary penalties aren't enough. Taylor and her neighbors are calling for stricter penalties, including mandatory community service for offenders. "What we want is behavior change. And to me, engaging in that sort of thing would be a better push in that direction," Taylor said. The City of Oakland reminds residents that they're entitled to at least one free bulky waste pickup per year — and in some cases, two — regardless of whether they rent or own. It's a free service. Appointments can be made by calling Waste Management.
