Carl Schischka - the million bottle man

Carl Schischka reckons he's picked up one million bottles over the last 12 years. He's left mounds of them from East Cape to Taupo, across to Wanganui and all points north. And he's confident that one day he'll hit two million, unless people start listening to him.

Mr Schischka, officially from Mangonui but currently of no fixed abode, has been waging a one-man campaign against those who despoil their environment with all kinds of rubbish, bottles in particular, for years, but his solution continues to fall on deaf ears.

He's told anyone he thinks should be listening, from the Prime Minister to councils, that giving bottles a redeemable value would solve the problem instantly

"It's an environmental nightmare," he said.

"It's not just here; it's everywhere. Everywhere you look you will see bottles and other rubbish, but a lot of it goes unnoticed."

The summit of the Mangamuka Gorge was a disgrace, he said, not so long after a major effort was made to remove rubbish from that particular beauty spot. Now it was as bad as it had ever been, the current collection ranging from a drum kit to dead dogs. And bottles.

Only walking the Gorge revealed the full scale of the problem though. Rubbish had been tossed from vehicles almost the entire length of the scenic road, something most people wouldn't even be aware of.

"If you stop you'll see it; if you just drive past it's of no consequence," he said.

"It's enough to make you sick. It's no exaggeration to say the top of the Gorge is a dump."

The car park gutter behind Kaitaia's brand new Te Ahu yielded half a dozen smashed beer bottles last week, while the Lake Ngatu foreshore and beaches on both coasts were always an unhappy hunting ground.

The road to Spirits Bay had produced its share of bottles, along with a couple of child car seats and a car battery.

"I've been to DOC about that but I'm not sure if they'll do anything," Mr Schischka added.

But while he conceded that changing attitudes toward the environment might be a tall order, he had no doubt that beer bottles would disappear from Far North beaches, bush and roadside drains if they were worth money.

"In China half the cost of a beer is the bottle, and kids hang around waiting for to finish so they can grab the bottle and redeem it," he said.

"We need to have a refund on glass. That would do all of us, and our environment, a favour."