1000 volunteers for another massive clean up event

MEDIA RELEASE  10/03/2010

Kiwi charity returns to Aotea/Great Barrier Island with 1000 volunteers for another massive clean up event

Kiwi charity Sustainable Coastlines have done it again, motivating over 1000 volunteers to cleanup the entire west coast of Aotea/Great Barrier Island last weekend.  Through ingenuity and hard work, their volunteers have removed 29,000 litres of rubbish from the same stretches of coastline where over 700 people took 2.8 tonnes last year.

The challenge now is to scale up.  After creating the organisation in the height of the worst financial crisis in years, they have amazingly pulled off a string of successful events and now need an injection of funds to keep making such projects possible.

Through such actions they have now proven that there is a constant stream of rubbish, escaping the Auckland metropolitan area (largely through storm drains) and blowing across the Hauraki Gulf in the prevailing sou-west winds.

Charity Co Founder, Sam Judd, is still on the island organising the transport of the waste back to Auckland, to conduct a comprehensive audit which will be cross-referenced against the results from last year. 

“While it was sad to see how much had turned up within one year’s time on the same coastlines that we cleaned one year ago, our volunteers got stuck in, worked with an incredible bunch of Barrier locals and everyone had a blast.”

On Friday, 400 children from the low-decile schools of the Auckland region, went out to the Island about the Fuller’s Ferries Superflyte boat, to work with local schools on a cleanup of Tryphena Harbour- a day that Sustainable Coastlines coordinated with the Sir Peter Blake Trust’s “Care for Our Coast” program.

On Saturday, 250 volunteers came across in challenging seas aboard the Jet Raider, joined up with hoards of locals into 36 teams (with 25 private boats and 55 kayaks) to remove debris from the beaches that face the storm drains of Auckland City.

After an impressive array of results last year, these projects are getting popular- tickets sold out a week before the event, so more people went aboard the discounted Sealink Ferry, or took private boats from Auckland in a rally organised by Burnsco Marine.

The crew all worked together for the same cause and everyone enjoyed what they collectively achieved.  “It was great to see,” says Judd, “that highly motivated people came out here, challenging themselves in tough weather conditions and everyone got stuck in.  The teamwork was inspirational- no one complained and we all learned much about marine debris.”

Support from the Fuller’s Ferries, Burnsco Marine, Sealink Travel Group, Reef Shipping, The Hilton Auckland, Sanfords Sustainable Seafoods, The Auckland Regional Council, The Auckland City Council, The Waitemata Harbour Cleanup Trust, Smart Environmental, Benefitz Printing, Water in a Box, The Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Arnette Sunglasses, Greenworks,  Hydrosurf and many local Great Barrier businesses, community groups and individuals made the event possible.

To support the charity, get information about future events and view the results of the audit, visit www.sustainablecoastlines.org.

ENDS