20 February 2018
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Rubbish in Lake Tikitapu
Enquiry
Rotorua Daily Post requested comment from Rotorua Lakes Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council regarding rubbish found in Lake Tikitapu by Coastguard members following Flochella.
- What measures are taken to ensure rubbish is decreased around the lakes? eg bins
- How often are bins emptied?
- In instances where the lakes will be popular, eg flochella, what extra waste reducing measures are/were taken?
- How much rubbish was removed from the reserve following Flochella?
Response
From Infrastructure General Manager Stavros Michael -
We want to remind people to use common sense when it comes to how they dispose of rubbish - if bins are full please take your own rubbish with you.
Bins are provided at all high use reserves in the district.
Often in busier areas we increase the number and size of bins although this is sometimes seen as an opportunity to dump household rubbish, which has occurred this summer at our transfer stations and other lakeside reserves.
During the busy summer months bins at popular lake reserves are emptied at least once a day, reverting to twice weekly in the off-peak seasons.
The specific amount of rubbish removed from Lake Tikitapu during the NZ Bomb Comp and Flochella events was not recorded as it was collected in a truck along with rubbish from its normal daily collection run.
Organisers didn't anticipate the number of discarded floaties at the end of the event which took up a lot of bin space.
From Sport and Recreation Manager Rob Pitkethley
Flochella and NZ Bomb Comp organisers worked closely with us to minimise any impact on the reserve and were required to ensure all litter was removed.
A formula using expected participant numbers is used to calculate the number of bins needed for events on reserves. In this case 20 extra bins were provided by Smart Environmental.
We understand event organisers also had divers in the lake following the event and collected about a bucket full of rubbish.
