Let’s talk rubbish - Whitianga Clean Up brings in heaps!
By Tracey Bell
What a gorgeous sunny windless day we had for the inaugural Whitianga Cleanup Day on Saturday 16th September 2023. Inspired by the highly successful Keep New Zealand Beautiful annual Clean Up Week, our very own Tiffany Reed delivered a well-coordinated and high energy event – the Wāhi Tukurua/Mercury Bay Resource Recovery Centre team were delighted to be part of the support crew on the day.
Over 65 people came down to the Mercury Bay Reserve on Buffalo Beach Road from 9.30am for a briefing before heading out across Whitianga beaches, roads and public spaces. “I was blown away at how many people turned up on the day” Tiffany says “People of all ages and ethnicity came, including families, individuals and a wonderful group from our Filipino community. There was a great energy and atmosphere to the morning. Special thanks to CFM who joined us on the day, bringing music, on air interviews and support which really added to the carnival feeling”.
Many people shared their stories of collecting rubbish every time they went out walking, and how horrified they were by the sheer quantity they observed on a daily basis. They felt really motivated to do something about it and Cleanup Day really reasonated with them. Participants felt the buzz of contributing to the well-being of the beautiful place we call home and enjoyed connecting with others in our community. There was even spot prizes and delicious soup for those bringing their rubbish collection back for the weigh-in - thanks to Hula Café and Mandy Sewell for supplying the tasty treats.
Participants were encouraged to take a climate conscious approach to Clean Up Week by organising their own reusable and sustainable clean up kits using everyday items such as buckets and gardening gloves.
So let’s talk rubbish! A total of 680kg was collected – imagine that in 2.5 hours! Everything from plastic bags and fishing lines, to tyres and furniture pieces. There was a huge amount of glass bottles, plastic drink containers and aluminum cans. Tiffany shared “It’s really disappointing to see so much collected that could and should have gone into the recycling bins spread liberally round town. It drives home for me the work we have to do in encouraging pride, providing education and making it easy to do the right thing.”
As the rubbish collected came back to the HQ at the reserve it was weighed and sorted, and eventually loaded on to the back of a Council supplied ute destined for the dump. TCDC came to the party and waived the dumping fees too. In addition, our cleanup participants identified household rubbish (such as a mattress propped up on the roadside on the way out of town) that Council staff have now been notified of and will head out to collect in due course.
“There was a real sense of achievement and pride seeing the growing weigh-in numbers, but at the same time it was very sobering and sad. We certainly got the sense that we had only touched the tip of the iceberg”. Says Tiffany. “No doubt about it, there is a lot more to do and we will definitely be back next year!”.
In the interim, it is great to see Mercury Bay Area School embrace Cleanup Week too. They will be focusing on the Robinson Road/ Lovers Rock Reserve area. We are looking forward to seeing the impact of their working bee through the week, and wonder if it might take the total collected to over a tonne. There is a high bench mark for next year!
The Wāhi Tukurua team would also like to thank Countdown, who donated some gloves, bags, prizes, All About Whitianga for spot prizes, and Stephensons pharmacy for spot prizes. Along with Hula Cafe who donated a large pot of delicious soup!
