Watercare Services has fitted meters to 14 Auckland household rain water tanks in a trial that will test the fairness of its new $582 annual wastewater fixed charge.

A world-leading recycling facility that opened today in Upper Hutt will break down nappies into a safe, odourless compost instead of sending them to landfill.

Peter Hagglund is sick of old mattresses, bin bags overflowing with household rubbish and worse being illegally dumped near his home.

You could be contributing to the mess on our beaches and not even know about it. Recently 90 parking tickets or car registration dockets were picked up by volunteers cleaning up Rangitoto island. We traced several of them back to their Auckland owners.

2.66 tonnes of trash was removed in the first Christmas coast clean-up in Auckland, worrying figures for those hoping to hit the beaches this summer.