Litter Act 1979

Special powers of convicting court

20: Offender may be ordered to clear area

You could also call this:

"If you litter, you might have to clean it up under supervision or face a fine."

If you are found guilty of littering under sections like section 10, section 15, or section 16, the court can order you to clean up the litter. You will have to do this under the supervision of a person chosen by the court, and you will have to finish the job within a certain time and take the litter to a place specified by the court. If you do not do this, you can be fined up to $500, on top of any other penalty you might get.

If you do clean up the litter as ordered, the person supervising you will give you a written statement saying you have done the job. If you do not clean up the litter, the person supervising you can ask a District Court Judge to issue a summons, which means you will have to go to court and explain why you should not be fined.

When you go to court, the judge can make any decision they think is fair.

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This page was last updated on 19 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM33488.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal lawEnvironment and resources > Conservation

19B: Defences to strict liability offences, or

"Excuses you can use if you're accused of littering and it wasn't your fault"

21: Cost of removing litter, or

"Paying to clean up your litter"

20Offender may be ordered to clear area

Without limiting the powers conferred on Litter Control Officers by this Act, where any person is convicted of an offence against section 10 or section 15 or section 16 the court may, instead of or in addition to imposing a penalty, order the offender, under the supervision and to the satisfaction of a person nominated by the court, to clear up and remove the deposited litter within such period and to such place as may be specified in the order; and on the making of any such order the court shall further order that, if the offender fails to comply with the order, he be liable, in addition to any penalty imposed under the said section 10 or section 15 or section 16, to a fine not exceeding $500.
Where the order is complied with to the satisfaction of the person nominated by the court that person shall give or send to the offender a statement in writing to that effect.
Where an offender fails to comply with any such order, any District Court Judge, on the application of the person nominated by the court to supervise the clearing and removal of the litter, may issue a summons requiring the offender to show cause why the fine imposed by the order should not be enforced.
On the hearing of the summons to show cause, the court may make such order as it thinks fit.

Compare

1968 No 134 s 15

Notes

Section 20(3): amended, on 1 April 1980, pursuant to section 18(2) of the District Courts Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 125).