Hon Scott Simpson

Associate Minister for the Environment

9 June 2017
Media Statement

$260,000 for nationwide litter review

An independent review of public litter and littering interventions in New Zealand will be undertaken by the Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust, Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson announced today.

“Sustainable Coastlines has been awarded $261,250 from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund. The Sustainable Coastlines project is a one year investigation that will obtain and review all accessible data on New Zealand coastal litter and existing education interventions and develop two robust and scientifically reputable frameworks and methodologies for analysing litter data and litter interventions. Data from the study will be visualised and published online on the Sustainable Coastlines Website.

“Data is critical for helping us understand the state of our environment and informing where investment and intervention is required. This project is a good step toward building a better picture around the impact of litter.

“Harm from litter is more than just aesthetic, but due to its often light-weight nature, litter travels easily through the environment where it can impact our freshwater, coasts and marine environment.”

Sustainable Coastlines is a charity that coordinates and supports large-scale coastal clean-up events, educational programmes, public awareness campaigns, riparian planting projects and also helps groups to run their own events.

“Caring for our beaches is the responsibility of all New Zealander’s and organisations such as Sustainable Coastlines play an important role in leading and educating the community.”

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