KEY POINTS:
John Blundell is a tidy Kiwi, picking up rubbish from his mobility scooter along the Kawakawa Bay foreshore - twice a day at times.
The 89-year-old is a finalist in the Auckland Regional Council's sustainable environment awards which will be announced tomorrow night, but he can't see what all the fuss is about over his cleaning efforts.
"I don't think there's anything marvellous about it, everybody should be doing it."
Mr Blundell has been nominated under the individual category for the awards which recognise and celebrate outstanding environmental achievement within the Auckland region.
For Mr Blundell that means spending a couple of hours a day for the past three years going up and down both sides of the 2km road that stretches along the bay.
Pegging plastic bags to his mobility scooter, the retired orchardist dons a pair of big black sunglasses, his "road kill" possum fur hat and grabs a pick-up stick before setting off on his ritual clean-up.
Mr Blundell has always liked clean verges. He used to regularly go out and clear rubbish from outside the Clevedon orchard he once owned and would not even tolerate apple cores tossed out car windows.
Picking up litter may seem a lonely job but Mr Blundell says he has made friends with the local dogs, the ducks, and even the seagulls.
"The seagulls have got to know me ... I say 'where is everybody' and they just shrug their shoulders. When the tide is full I feel like I have the whole bay to myself."
There was however one black-backed gull Mr Blundell did not see quite eye to eye with.
"It would go right into the rubbish bins looking for fish scraps before emerging like a rocket, scattering rubbish back on the ground in its wake."
Now Mr Blundell makes sure fish heads and skeletons are kept out of the bins to dissuade the seagull and also because their spikes could hurt people.
Most of the rubbish he collects is bottles, cans and plastic and Mr Blundell is naturally kept busiest in the summer months.
"But I don't go out when it's too windy, as everything blows out of my rubbish bags, or when it is too wet. But if there's a break in the rain I will scoot out."
Other finalists in the individual category are Daoud Kadhim, who runs a waste minimisation programme for the Arab community, Adam Buckingham, for preschool recycled activity centres, Jack Harper, a key environmentalist on the Awhitu Peninsula, and Morris Jones, who is leading restoration efforts on land around a pa in the Redhill scenic reserve.
Other categories include environmental education - awarded to teachers and young people - sustainable urban communities, sustainable rural communities, sustainable businesses, and the sustainable public sector.
