Global hat collection set to fund ocean litter cleanups

Global hat collection set to fund ocean litter cleanups

Te Anau bus driver Bruce Fraser hopes his huge collection of beachcombed hats can find new forever homes.

One of his regular driving routes is to Milford Sound, where he takes a break with a walk along the shore, bagging any rubbish he finds.

Fiordland's gusty winds snatch hats from many unwary Milford scenic cruise passengers and kayakers. The hats wash ashore and mingle with driftwood, the odd plastic bottle and scrap of rope. Over years of shoreline cleanups Mr Fraser has gathered hundreds of hats from all over the world.

Most hats were perfectly good, some new, he said. A frugal man of Scottish heritage, he couldn't bear to throw them away.

"Actually those hats have survived a near-death experience. They deserve a new life, not a trip to landfill," he said.

To his family's amusement, then perplexity, he stockpiled them in bags and boxes in his home office. He gave hats away to family, friends and wwoofers staying on their farm. Yet the collection burgeoned.

Two years ago, Mr Fraser was one of 30 participants in an expedition, Fiordland Coastal Cleanup, that takes volunteers to remote parts of either Fiordland or Stewart Island every second year to pick up man-made ocean rubbish and ship it ashore for recycling or disposal. Each expedition collects from 11 to 20 tonnes of man-made waste, a mixture of lost fishing gear and global ocean litter.

Sponsors and supporters-in-kind, including fishing companies, Environment Southland and helicopter and shipping companies funded most of the project, but the expeditions still had a funding shortfall, he learned.

"I had a flash of inspiration - people could donate to the coastal cleanup expeditions and score a real beachcombed hat of their own, re-branded to show its unique history."

Mr Fraser devised a way to use the beachcombed hats as thank-you gifts to donors. Now anyone who wants to make a donation to the project can do so at Flotsam Recycled Hats on Trade Me. The donations are passed on in full to Fiordland Coastal Cleanup. Donors also receive a supporter's certificate.

Mr Fraser doesn't plan to quit his Milford shoreline rubbish runs anytime soon.

He says tidying Milford Sound seems like a privilege. "You know the Sistine Chapel? When the tourists have gone, someone's in there with a mop, right? I'm pretty sure they know their job's one in a million. That's how I feel too."

ENDS

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