News release
6 June 2008 – embargoed until 3.30pm

Greytown children challenged to lead the way

Greater Wellington Regional Council Chair Fran Wilde has challenged Greytown children to lead the community effort to become more sustainable.

She was launching ‘Greentown’, a month-long programme of events and activities for Greytown residents to improve the town’s already good sustainability practices and help people to kick the carbon habit.

Greater Wellington Regional Council made a successful funding application to the Ministry for the Environment for the Greentown campaign. As part of the campaign every household has received a reusable shopping bag with a range of environmentally friendly household products.

“We’re asking people here to start using household products that won’t damage our land and waterways.

“We’re asking people to use fewer plastic bags and less packaging. These reusable shopping bags were made out of what was the biggest billboard in the southern hemisphere.

“Right House, which is a company focussing on energy efficiency, helped us to do this. And I think it’s just great that an Auckland billboard is now being utilised like this in our region.

“We want to encourage people to plant more trees – so we can have more native bush to attract the birds and also so the trees can do their job of cleaning up our air.

“What each of you does as an individual will be the most important thing in the next month. We know from experience that you can have enormous influence on your families, provided you are prepared to make changes yourselves and believe in those changes enough to keep on with them even after this month.

“You can persuade your mums and dads, your brothers and sisters – your grand parents, aunties, neighbours – to change how they do things as well.

“Tell them they can help save our environment – and they can make Greytown “world famous” - not only world famous in the Wellington region but throughout New Zealand and in fact truly world famous right round the world, if they continue to do the right things.”

For more about Greentown, visit our website www.gw.govt.nz/greentown

ENDS

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