Just a portion of the 1090kg of rubbish picked up from Foxton Beach during the Horowhenua District Council's cleanup event last weekend. Photo / Morag Collins
Just a portion of the 1090kg of rubbish picked up from Foxton Beach during the Horowhenua District Council's cleanup event last weekend. Photo / Morag Collins
With the weather coming to the party last weekend, Horowhenua District Council's Clean Up Week events held at Foxton Beach and Hōkio Beach were a huge success.
Council waste minimisation officer Robbie Stillwell was really pleased with the turnout of people keen to help clear up their environment.
"There was a good mix of ages at both events ... the kids are really leading the way ... our [local] Waste Warriors have definitely raised the profile of cleaning up our community," Stillwell said.
Mo Collins, team manager of Recreational Services Horowhenua, was at both events, and agrees that a lot of environmental action is driven by the younger generations.
Local school children who brought their koro (back left) along to help Robbie Stillwell, HDC waste minimisation officer (back right) with the cleanup at Foxton Beach. Photo / Morag Collins
"We had three students from a local school come down with their koro ... doing a DoC programme called Kiwi Guardians ... earning awards while learning about the environment," Collins said.
The Foxton Beach cleanup included the sand dunes, and took about six hours with over a tonne of dumped rubbish being cleared, including TVs, mattresses and even a truck tyre.
"There was lots of broken glass and cans in the dunes," said Collins, "reflecting fairly antisocial behaviour by some people."
The cleanup crew also picked up a large dump of rubbish found north of the Foxton surf club on the same day, which was added to the pile already cleared from the beach further south.
The Waste Warriors (aka the Hazel brothers) helping to load up a two-piece lounge suite during last weekend's cleanup event that was found dumped at Hokio Beach. Photo / Morag Collins
The Hokio Beach cleanup on Sunday was not quite as long, only three to four hours, and covered a smaller area from the playground to the beach, but still produced over 800kg of rubbish.
"I was a little surprised by what turned up at Hokio," said Stillwell, "there was the tray of a ute (basically half a vehicle) as well as a three-seater and a two-seater couch."
The couches were in relatively good condition and could have been gifted or passed on to a second-hand store, said Stillwell, because there are always other options for getting rid of household rubbish of that size.
Janelle Cody, mother of the Waste Warriors – Anthony, Brendon and Caleb Hazel - said this was the first big cleanup event the boys had been involved in and they're definitely keen to do more.
Mo Collins (left), of Recreational Services, along with other Horowhenua residents lending a hand at last weekend's cleanup events at Foxton Beach and Hokio Beach. Photo / Robert Stillwell
"The boys were able to get into areas [of the beach] that were inaccessible for adults ... we were surprised by the amount of 'fly tipping' stuff they found," Cody said.
Some of what the cleanup crew found looked like household junk, as if people were living or staying on the beach and not taking their rubbish away with them.
Littering in the Horowhenua does seem quite prolific, from dumping of big items like furniture and car parts, through to chucking takeaway packaging out of car windows onto the roadside.
"We need people to recognise that there are alternatives [to dumping] for a lot of products, even if the cost of taking rubbish to the tip is prohibitive for some," he said.
Free options include such things as glass recycling, gifting good-condition items to second-hand stores, and offering unwanted goods on community pages.
If you would like advice and/or support for your own cleanup activity, contact Robbie Stillwell at Horowhenua District Council on email: enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz or phone 06 366 0999.
