We thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Mother of All Clean Ups event 2023.
In total, 60 volunteers removed 13 full sacks/ 650 litres of litter from the coastline – an amazing effort by everyone. From chairs to cigarette butts, a body board to a toy calculator there was quite an array of items out there!
The data from the Litter Intelligence survey can be found here: Litter Intelligence – New Brighton Beach – 13th May
Survey results of note:
– 478 items were categorised, counted and weighed
– Litter density (379 Items per 1,000m2) is higher than the national average.
– Plastic was by far the most prominent material type – 92%
– Excluding unidentifiable items, the most common items found were cigarette butss, polystyrene and rope.
Those numbers contributed to the wider Mother of all Clean Ups event totals – 543 enthusiastic volunteers removed 438 bags of rubbish, weighing more than 2370kg, from our awa and moana in a single morning. A great achievement that comes with the reminder that there are still steps we can take to reduce pollution in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Thank you to the Mother of All Clean Ups organising committee, the 60 community groups and 20 schools who rolled up their sleeves and helped to clean-up the environment!
