Keep New Zealand Beautiful is asking Kiwis to come together and make a collective difference by getting involved in this year's G.J. Gardner Homes Clean Up Week from 7 to 13 September.
The community pride initiative, run annually by Keep New Zealand Beautiful, inspires businesses, schools, community groups and individuals to actively participate in cleaning up their part of Aotearoa.
Chairperson of Pride Whakatāne, the local Keep New Zealand Beautiful branch, Andrew Iles is fully supportive of the campaign and encourages anyone with a couple of spare hours to help out.
“Last year, more than 52,000 volunteers across the country collaboratively collected more than 507,400 kg of rubbish during clean up week,” he says. “Every ‘litter’ bit counts, so please get involved and participate in New Zealand's largest clean up event. Let’s all make a difference and be proud of the wonderful district we live in.”
Whakatāne District Council is also supporting the campaign by waiving transfer station fees for anyone delivering waste as part of the clean up week.
General Manager Community Services, Mike Naude, says litter is still a significant issue in the district and the Council needs input from the communities to resolve the problem.
“There are excellent waste facilities in our area, and our teams do great work trying to stay on top of littering, but people continue to carelessly throw rubbish wherever they please,” he explains. “Initiatives such as G.J. Gardner Homes Clean Up Week help highlight the issue by making people aware of how much rubbish isn’t disposed of correctly. This nationwide campaign is really effective.”
Anyone who wants to be involved should register an event on the Keep New Zealand Beautiful website. After registration, you will receive an email with a 'digital sticker' to present at the transfer station for free dumping. There is also the chance to win a Samsung tablet and a Keep New Zealand Beautiful prize pack by submitting your clean up event photos and evaluation form.
Event coordinators are encouraged to organise their own reusable and sustainable clean-up kits using buckets, gardening gloves or reusable bags. However, clean up kits are available for those hosting an event who don't have access to their own clean up materials – please contact Keep New Zealand Beautiful for more details.
Chairperson Iles also reminds people that the Pride Whakatāne and Waste Zero Whakatāne district-wide colouring competition is open until Monday, 14 September for all primary school-aged children.
“We’ve been so fortunate to have local award-winning author-illustrator, Nikki Slade Robinson, jump on board with one of her fantastic illustrations to colour-in,” he says. “The sheets are available from the Pride Whakatāne and Waste Zero Whakatāne Facebook pages, and there are awesome books up for grabs for the winners.”