MEDIA RELEASE 23 July 2013

Residents urged to clean up their patch and protect our waterways

‘Let’s Keep New Zealand Beautiful Together’ nationwide litter clean-ups will come to Howick’s Wakaaranga Creek this Saturday. Residents are encouraged to lend a helping hand and clean up their patch and help stop discarded rubbish from finding its way into our waterways.

Run by Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, the clean-ups are part of a nationwide initiative aimed at educating and encouraging Kiwis to re-duce, re-use and re-cycle – all thanks to Keep New Zealand Beautiful, Coca-Cola Foundation Beverage Container Recycling Community Grants.

“The Wakaaranga creek and Pakuranga stream are the main catchment waterways that run into the Tamaki River,” says Conservation Volunteers NZ Project Officer Bridie Gough. “On-going restoration through Landcare Trust’s ‘Volcano to Sea project is already underway. Cleaning up Wakaaranga Creek is a vitally important part of that restoration to stop discarded rubbish from leaching polluting chemicals and toxins into the water, damaging our wildlife and our environment.”

Residents are asked to meet at 68R Pigeon Road, in the car park by the Scout Hall at 9.30am with a finish time of 12 noon. Any queries please call Conservation Volunteers NZ on 080056 76 86 or email nfo@conservationvolunteers.co.nz. Please wear sturdy footwear and protective clothing such as long sleeves and long pants.

You may be surprised to learn that one cigarette butt can be found in every 7 ½ litres of water on this earth. The toxic chemicals from discarded cigarette butts leach into our water supply killing animals and marine life who commonly mistake the butts for food.

Ten percent of the plastic made around the world will end up in the ocean as floating debris. As the plastic degrades it leaches potentially toxic chemicals into our seas, threatening our ocean wildlife and us. Some plastics will not break down in the lifetimes of the grandchildren of the people who threw them away.

Residents are encouraged to make positive environmental changes by visiting www.alittlealot.org.nz and making a personal pledge such as picking up rubbish, recycling, re-using, walking instead of using a vehicle, getting involved with conservation projects with your local community and many more.

Rubbish collected will be sorted and where possible recycled, then weighed and audited so Auckland City Council and other organisations can be informed about where our rubbish comes from.

Conservation Volunteers New Zealand run conservation and environmental programmes including habitat regeneration, enhancing our waterways and protecting New Zealand’s special habitats and wildlife.

Founded in Australia in 1982, Conservation Volunteers expanded operations to New Zealand in 2006. Today, Conservation Volunteers is a leader in delivery of practical conservation programmes, community involvement and a range of training programmes involving over 10,000 volunteers across Australia and New Zealand every year.

For more information visit www.conservationvolunteers.co.nz.
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