Te Puke spring clean highlights the good and the bad

Some of the collectors and some of the rubbish at the end of the spring clean. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

While a town centre spring clean this week produced probably the biggest haul ever, its organiser says that isn't a measure of success.

A trailer full of rubbish and recyclables was collected and taken to the Te Puke Recycling Centre last Wednesday.

"It was good to get that much stuff off the streets, but at the same time I can't believe how much stuff is out there," says Epic Te Puke marketing manager Rebecca Larsen.

A team from Poutiri Trust tackled the area behind the library, but had to leave some bigger items behind as they were too large to carry.

"They got a lot from behind the library where there's also a lot of household rubbish that couldn't be collected."

Collectors also spotted rubbish dumped close to the railway line, but this, too, had to be left for safety reasons.

Glass bottles formed a large proportion of what was collected, prompting Rebecca to call for incentives to return bottles.

"It's great that the community can come together like that, but it's also sad because of all the alcohol bottles [thrown away] and it's so unnecessary. I hope society can come up with ways to monetise the return of those bottles."

Registration for the collection was at The Hub in Jocelyn St with The Daily Cafe the finish point, with pizza for the volunteers.

"I just want to say a big thank you to everybody that came out to help. The team [at] Poutiri Trust did an amazing job - I'd hate to think of the state of their van afterwards, and also The Daily for putting on the pizzas and hosting at the end and The Hub for facilitating the start," Rebecca says.

"It's not a nice job, it's disgusting, but once you've washed up and everyone's gone through that disgusting experience, the pizza makes up for it."

As well as pizza, Rawhitiroa Paikea found himself better off after he found a $20 note while out collecting rubbish.