KingsWay students set out on a cold, rainy Sunday picking up rubbish on Orewa Beach

This initiative was coordinated by Environment Council Leaders, Toby Sharp and Hannah Westerdaal. Students and parents set about combing the beach for plastic debris, much of which was trapped in the sand dunes and supporting rock wall boarders. Teams were sent out to collect rubbish at set points along the beach, and after collecting for an hour and a half, teams regrouped and sorted rubbish in front of the Surf Club. Diners and local dog-walkers were interested to know what the students were doing, and were impressed by the initiative.

After the rubbish sort, which totalled about 20kgs in weight, it was found that about 50% could have been recycled – beer and wine bottles made up this section. The glass was disposed of in recycle. Much of the landfill mass was soft plastics, cigarette butts, and a dog bed! Sadly the majority of cigarette butts were located in front of popular eating spots, suggesting that they had been left by beach users, and not washed up with the tide.

Toby Sharp heralded the afternoon initiative as a success and thanked participants for their time and energy. It is expected that there will be another beach clean up survey at a different location on the Coast in Term 3.

Sam Stammers
KingsWay Enviro Council Teacher