Rubbish dumping gets worse - but who can pick it up?

Christchurch residents are urging others to pick up any rubbish they see during their neighbourhood walks - but some are worried it is not a safe practice during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rubbish lining the footpaths and walkways of Christchurch has motivated concerned residents to take matters into their own hands, and encourage others to follow suit.

• Christchurch parks become dog poo central

Christchurch resident Morgane Forde-Honoré noticed "quite a bit" of rubbish during her daily walks around the Avon River, and challenged people to pick up one piece, or one bag of rubbish, a day.

"We put on a pair of gloves, picked up every bit we found and filled up a shopping bag in under an hour. It felt really good," she said.

Richmond resident Rachel Crawford said it was "disheartening" to see rubbish carelessly tossed in the red zone and along the Avon River.

Although Mrs Crawford and her family usually help out, she decided that now was not the time to pick up after people.

"It makes no sense to drop rubbish in such beautiful surrounds, it ruins a nice walk.

"My three-year-old son especially takes pride in cleaning up, but he's sad to not pick up rubbish anymore," she said.

"Not picking up rubbish on our walks is a foreign concept now, it's going against our human nature to help during these times - not touching or picking up things that we usually would.

"But it's for the greater good, and it's not permanent."

It was "strange" to teach her children, who are three and eight, to go against their urge to help, but even with gloves on she says the risk is too high.

"I can't trust them to not touch their mouths or faces during the pick-up.

"So we're pausing our usual social responses for now and following the Government's advice on cleanliness and distancing," said Mrs Crawford.

She did not mind if other adults choosing to pick up rubbish, provided they wore gloves and applied basic hand hygiene measures.

People have also expressed their frustration over the amount of dog poo being left in public areas across the city.

As a result, some bins have been overflowing, slimming the chances of people disposing of their waste correctly.

The Christchurch City Council wanted people to take personal responsibility for their rubbish.

Said city council head of parks Andrew Rutledge: "We are following Ministry of Health guidelines to minimise activity in the public.

"Part of our parks staff's activities during the lockdown is emptying any overflowing bins, and identifying critical health and safety issues to our parks."

The Ministry of Health's advice on basic hygiene includes washing hands with soap and water regularly, especially if people have been out and about.