On Thursday the 18th of May, Room 3 students were split up into two groups. One of the groups (my group) went around the local streets and the other group focused on the awa. Our aim was to pick up rubbish to stop it getting into the awa/river and set a good example to the community as part of the Ōtautahi wide - Mother of All Clean Up Events.

Along the way it was quite enjoyable communicating with the rest of the class while cleaning up the streets, knowing we are doing a good thing. Our tools were a reasonably good-sized plastic rubbish bag, gloves, and a great attitude.

We quickly realised that there were quite a lot of cigarette butts and plastic bags, and others even found childrens’ toys, lanyards, different car parts, safety vests and even more strange and unusual items.

Personally I found a lot of lolly wrappers and surprisingly, a half eaten sandwich. The most concerning thing we found was sadly a lot of leaves getting stuck in the gutters and along the streets. This is not great for the quality of the water in the awa.  The leaves act as a barrier, stopping the water from flowing freely and when leaves enter the awa, via the gutters and drains, they rot and turn into mud. Our tuna and invertebrates do not like living in a dirty awa.

The route was up Heaton street, Papanui Road, along Normans Road, Strowan Road and back through Heaton Street. When we came back to class, we set up a tarpaulin (nearly as big as the room) and emptied the rubbish bags. We were able to fill nearly the whole tarpaulin up! It was quite a surprising view of how much rubbish is out there and also quite heartbreaking. It made some of us feel guilty about the harm we are causing the tuna/eels, but at the same time we felt we accomplished a lot and made a huge difference.

The second group went to Taylor’s Stream at Elmwood Park and collected rubbish straight from the water. They found a lot of cans and little bits of plastic and foil, shoelaces and even a shoe! There was a lot of chewing gum which looked identical to stones. They also saw a longfin tuna swim by as they were picking up rubbish!

So please just remember to make sure not to litter and pick up any rubbish you see, as it affects us and the wildlife such as tuna in the awa.

By Hazel Hammond, Room 3