The clean-up day was organised by Morgan Schofield, who used the power of Facebook to get the message out.
"It's not just 'oh yeah, let's make the beach look good'. Litter is an issue for the ocean as well," she said.
Schofield is part of the Keep Mauao Clean Facebook page and worked with Tauranga City Council to organise the rubbish collection day, sorting it all and taking it to the local transfer station.
More than 25kg of litter was collected, about 19 of which was recycled.
Schofield said cigarette butts were among the most invasive type of rubbish, made worse by an increase in visitors to the beach.
She hoped the community clean-up day could become a more regular thing throughout summer.
"Doing things like this is a good way to create a community feel but bring like-minded people together.
"If people see people picking up litter, it might make them think twice about littering."