This Act may be cited as the Litter Act 1968.

This Act shall come into force on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and sixty-nine.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 2 of this Act, nothing in this Act shall apply to—

Any public authority may from time to time appoint any suitable person (whether already employed by the authority or not) to be a litter prevention officer to exercise the duties conferred on him by this Act in any public place under the control of the authority.

Every such appointment shall be on such terms as to remuneration and other conditions of employment as the appointing authority may determine.

Every officer shall hold office during the pleasure of the authority appointing him and may at any time be removed from office by it, or he may at any time resign his office by notice in writing addressed to the chief executive officer of the public authority.

The authority shall supply to every officer appointed by it a written warrant under the seal of the authority evidencing the appointment, and the production of that warrant shall be sufficient proof of the appointment.

Every such officer shall, on the termination of his appointment, whether by removal from office or by resignation, surrender to the authority employing him his warrant of appointment and any uniform or badge of office that may have been issued to him.

The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, appoint the persons for the time being holding any specified class of office or appointment to be litter prevention officers in an honorary capacity for the purposes of this Act.

Any officers appointed by virtue of subsection (1) of this section may be appointed to exercise their duties in respect of any particular public places or generally in respect of public places throughout New Zealand.

Every officer appointed by virtue of subsection (1) of this section shall hold office during the pleasure of the Minister or for such specified term as the Minister thinks fit. Any such officer may at any time be removed from office by the Minister, and may at any time resign his office by notice in writing addressed to the Secretary.

The Secretary shall supply to every officer appointed by virtue of subsection (1) of this section a written warrant signed by the Secretary, or a person acting under his authority, evidencing the officer’s appointment; and the production of that warrant shall be sufficient proof of the appointment.

Any officer appointed by virtue of subsection (1) of this section shall, on the expiration of the term of his appointment, or on the sooner expiration of his appointment by removal from office or resignation, surrender to the Secretary his warrant of appointment and any uniform and badge of office that may have been issued to him in respect of his appointment.

The following persons shall by virtue of their office be deemed to be litter prevention officers for the purposes of this Act:

Every litter prevention officer (other than a traffic officer), if for the time being in uniform or in possession of a warrant or other evidence of his authority as an officer, is authorised to enforce the provisions of this Act and may, without further authority than this section, summarily interfere to prevent the deposit or attempted deposit of litter in any public place in which he is authorised to act.

Where any such officer finds a person depositing litter (whether inadvertently or otherwise) in a public place in which he is authorised to act, or has good cause to believe that a person has deposited litter (whether inadvertently or otherwise) in any such place, the officer may require him to place the litter in the nearest receptacle or, if by reason of the size or quantity of the litter or for any other reason it is not practicable for the litter to be placed in a receptacle, to remove the litter from the place.

If any such officer finds a person committing an offence against section 10 or section 11 of this Act, or has good cause to believe that a person has committed such an offence, the officer may require that person to state his true name and place of residence.

Every litter prevention officer who is a traffic officer in uniform is authorised to enforce the provisions of this Act so far as they relate to dangerous litter and may, without further authority than this section, summarily interfere to prevent the deposit or attempted deposit of dangerous litter in any public place where he is authorised to exercise his jurisdiction as a traffic officer.

Where any such officer finds a person depositing dangerous litter (whether inadvertently or otherwise) in a public place in which he is authorised to exercise his jurisdiction, or has good cause to believe that a person has deposited dangerous litter (whether inadvertently or otherwise) in any such place, the officer may require him to place the litter in the nearest receptacle or, if by reason of the size or quantity of the litter or for any other reason it is not practicable for the litter to be placed in a receptacle, to remove the litter from the place.

If any such officer finds a person committing an offence against section 11 or subsection (1) of section (10) of this Act, or has good cause to believe that a person has committed such an offence, the officer may require that person to state his true name and place of residence.

Every public authority shall at all times provide and maintain in every public place under its control or management where litter is likely to be deposited or left such number of receptacles of suitable construction and design for the temporary deposit of litter as may reasonably be necessary to ensure that the place may be kept free of litter.

Every such authority shall also make appropriate provision for the emptying of the contents of its receptacles and for the removal and disposal of those contents. The work shall be executed promptly, efficiently, and at regular and prescribed intervals to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health appointed for the health district in which the place is situated.

Nothing in this section shall affect the powers conferred on the Board of Health under the Health Act 1956 in respect of any local authority within the meaning of section 2 of that Act.

Any local authority within the meaning of section 2 of the Local Authorities Loans Act 1956 may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the enactment or instrument constituting it, from time to time—

Every person commits an offence, and is liable, in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or to both, or, in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, who without reasonable excuse—

Every person commits an offence, and is liable, in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or, in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, who without reasonable excuse—

Where any person is charged with having committed an offence against subsection (1) of this section and the Court decides that the litter which is the subject of the charge is offensive litter and not dangerous litter, that person may be convicted of an offence against subsection(2) of this section.

Where any person commences the act of depositing litter in any public place and the litter comes to rest in a place other than a public place, that person may nevertheless be convicted of an offence against this section.

Every person commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or to both, who wilfully breaks any bottle, or any glass, or any article made of glass, in or on any public place without lawful authority or without the express consent of the public authority having the control or management of the place.

Every person commits an offence, and is liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, who—

If a body corporate commits an offence against section 10 of this Act, every director, manager, secretary, or other similar officer of the body corporate, and every person purporting to act in any such capacity, shall also be guilty of that offence if the act or omission constituting the offence occurred with his knowledge and consent.

Every offence against this Act shall be punishable on summary conviction.

Without limiting the powers conferred on litter prevention officers by this Act, where any person is convicted of an offence against section 10 of this Act 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 from the area 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, to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars.

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 Magistrate, 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.

Where a Court convicts a person of an offence against section 10 of this Act, it may, if it thinks fit, in addition to imposing a penalty, order the offender to pay by way of compensation to the public authority having the control or management of the public place where the offence was committed such sum as it considers reasonable to cover the cost of the removal of the litter; and the amount so awarded shall be deemed to be a judgment debt due to the authority from the offender and may be enforced in any manner in which a judgment or order of the Court for the payment of a civil debt may be enforced.

The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed.

Section 84 of the Reserves and Domains Act 1953 is hereby amended by inserting in paragraph (m) of subsection (1), after the words “on any public reserve”, the words “(being a public reserve which is not a public place within the meaning of section 2 of the Litter Act 1968)”.