Clean up week 2017

Thousands of 'beautiful kiwis' are set to do the right thing and take part in New Zealand’s largest clean up event next week.

It is expected that more than 50,000 individuals will join a community clean up as part of 'Keep New Zealand Beautiful Clean Up Week' from September 11 - 17 2017.

"Clean up week offers individuals, families, businesses, groups and community organisations the opportunity to do something for their local community," says Heather Saunderson, CEO of Keep New Zealand Beautiful.

“At Keep New Zealand Beautiful, our mission is to educate the next generation of 'tidy kiwis' and work together towards creating a better New Zealand. Clean-Up Week is the opportunity to make a tangible difference in your local community and we are committed to expanding this event every year," says Ms Saunderson.

This year Keep New Zealand Beautiful is trialling a fundraising platform alongside clean up week. "Being a not-for-profit organisation we rely heavily on donations, sponsorship and membership income to run initiatives such as clean up week, so we hope by introducing a fundraising component they may be able to offset some of the costs incurred," says Ms Saunderson.

They encourage groups of all sizes anywhere in New Zealand to sign up, and said that Keep New Zealand Beautiful will then provide everything needed to ensure the community clean-up is a success. This includes rubbish and recycling bags, gloves, health and safety guidelines, volunteer registration forms and much more. Clean up week is a well-received community pride initiative, which reaches every corner of New Zealand. All materials remain free for registered groups, and there is no expectation that groups fundraise as part of their clean up week event.

"Every year we are overwhelmed with the feedback from groups and the sense of community pride that clean up week instils in local communities" says Ms Saunderson.

For more information check out their website www.knzb.org.nz.

Our Council supports keeping New Zealand beautiful

From roadsides of the Coromandel to kiwi zones and private farms, illegally dumped rubbish is something our Council won't condone.

Fines of up to $20,000 are available to our Council for anyone caught illegally dumping anywhere in the District as well as instant $400 fines for littering. With the help of vigilant residents in our communities, there are eyes everywhere.

Our community environment team monitor known dumping sites and anyone identified for littering or dumping rubbish in our district can face legal action and a ‘name and shame’ through the courts.

Our staff will go to the lengths necessary to investigate who is responsible for illegal rubbish including picking through individual items and wading in waterways to find evidence of the perpetrators.

Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie takes this type of offending on our Coromandel seriously.

“There’s a zero tolerance on any form of littering and dumping, and if somebody has dumped a rubbish bag on the side of the road, I’m not above going through it and finding out who it is, shoving it on their doorstep and giving them a wake-up call,” says Mayor Sandra.

If you see someone dumping rubbish or are a private property owner experiencing this problem, please lodge a complaint through our ‘request for service’ (RFS) system online, or simply by contacting our customer service team customer.services@tcdc.govt.nz or phone 07 868 0200. This way staff can initiate an investigation on private land. Click here to read more.

Our Council is also behind a campaign to introduce a small, compulsory fee for plastic bags - the bags that are used to carry shopping home and then usually end up in landfill or littering our beaches and reserves.

Mayor Sandra Goudie has joined a campaign of New Zealand mayors that is urging the government to impose such a levy at the point of sale on these "single-use" plastic bags.

Reducing waste, whether it is discarded plastic bags or other items, is central to our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, which our Council adopted at its meeting in June.

Click here to read more or see www.tcdc.govt.nz/wmmp.

Transportable rubbish compactors for tourism hot spots are also being introduced on the Coromandel. Click here to find out more. Also, every summer we get people asking for ways to keep the seagulls from getting into their rubbish bags on the kerb. The answer is the 'Gullinator'.

Check the Kerbside rubbish and recycling collection schedule for your area by downloading the "2017 Kerbside Calendar" at www.tcdc.govt.nz/kerbside.

New Zealand families waste about $560 each year on food which is thrown uneaten into the rubbish bin. This adds up to a staggering $872 million for the whole country. It also results in 122,000 tonnes of edible food going to landfill and generating greenhouse gases.

We're proud to be part of the national 'Love Food Hate Waste NZ' campaign which aims to turn this around, by inspiring and enabling people to waste less food.

For practical tips on how to reduce your own food waste and save money visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz.

ENDS

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