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Waste Minimisation Act 2008

Responsibilities of territorial authorities in relation to waste management and minimisation - Collection and disposal of waste

55: Health Protection Officer may serve notice on territorial authority for causing nuisance

You could also call this:

"Health Protection Officers can tell councils to fix waste collection problems that are causing a nuisance"

Illustration for Waste Minimisation Act 2008

If you are a Health Protection Officer, you can serve a notice on a territorial authority. This can happen if the territorial authority is supposed to collect waste from premises, but is not doing it properly. You must think that the authority's failure to collect waste is causing, or is likely to cause, a nuisance.

You need to include some information in the notice, such as which premises it is about, what waste needs to be collected, and when you expect it to be collected. The notice must also say that not following it is an offence, and it must have your name and contact details.

When a territorial authority gets a notice, it must follow the notice or give it to the person who collects waste on its behalf and tell them to follow it. If the territorial authority or the waste collector does not follow the notice, the Medical Officer of Health can collect and dispose of the waste and charge the authority for the cost.

A Health Protection Officer is a person chosen by the chief executive of the Ministry of Health under the Health Act 1956.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1235828.

Topics:
Environment and resources > Waste managementHealth and wellbeing > Public healthGovernment and voting > Local councils
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Part 4Responsibilities of territorial authorities in relation to waste management and minimisation
Collection and disposal of waste

55Health Protection Officer may serve notice on territorial authority for causing nuisance

  1. A Health Protection Officer may serve notice on a territorial authority if—

  2. the territorial authority provides a waste collection service to premises; and
    1. he or she considers that—
      1. the territorial authority has failed to collect waste from the premises promptly or efficiently; and
        1. the failure to do so is causing, or is likely to cause, a nuisance.

        2. The notice must state—

        3. the premises to which it relates; and
          1. a description of the waste that needs to be collected from the premises; and
            1. the time frame in which the Health Protection Officer expects the waste to be collected; and
              1. that failure to comply with the notice is an offence; and
                1. the Health Protection Officer's name and contact details.

                  1. On receipt of a notice under subsection (1), the territorial authority must—

                  2. comply with the notice itself; or
                    1. if applicable, give the notice to the person providing the waste collection service to the premises on its behalf and direct the person to comply with the notice.

                      1. The Medical Officer of Health may collect and dispose of the waste concerned, and may recover the reasonable costs of doing so, as a debt due, from a territorial authority if the territorial authority, or any person collecting the waste on its behalf, fails to comply with a notice given under subsection (1).

                      2. In this section, Health Protection Officer means a person designated by the chief executive of the Ministry of Health as a Health Protection Officer under the Health Act 1956.