A massive thank you to the 270 guests that supported us by attending Saturday night’s charity ball. We had a fantastic time and hope you all did too. All funds raised during the evening support our ongoing work on coastal clean-up, riparian planting and educational projects, all aimed at sustaining and protecting our coastlines. 

A special thank you to:

• Event sponsors, those who provided auction items, and those who bid for them!
• Josh Williams, our auctioneer from Webb’s.
• Everyone who supported our riparian planting projects by sponsoring a tree.
• Our brilliant entertainers Michael Houstoun, Barnaby Weir, Nairobi Trio, Motor City Family Funk and MC Clarke Gayford.
• Volunteer Event Managers Simon van Praag, Caroline Larnach and Mitzi Borren
• Tim Lambourne and Joe Dowling from The Shutter Pirates for their photographic prowess
• The dedicated Hilton staff for providing the fantastic venue.

Without you all, this event would not have been possible.

Let’s Get Cleaned Up

It gives us great pleasure to announce our second annual ‘Let’s get cleaned up’: Sustainable Coastlines 2011 Charity Ball. The evening is set to kick off at 7pm on Saturday 23rd of July in a fantastic harbourside location: the Hilton Auckland Hotel and this is your invitation to join us for world-class entertainment and mouth-watering food and drinks.
Our lucky guests will be treated to a sumptuous three-course sit down meal, all drinks and entertainment from some of New Zealand’s top musicians. The evening will feature performances from:

• World-renowned concert pianist Michael Houstoun
• A solo set from Barnaby Weir the incredibly talented lead singer of Black Seeds and Fly My Pretties fame.
• Aotearoa’s top jazz ensemble Nairobi Trio
• The outstanding Motor City Family Funk

This exceptional package will also leave you feeling rightfully chuffed about your support of our cause: looking after the coastlines we all love. Tickets include three-course meal, all beverages, and access to the official after party hosted at Montecristo Room. All ticket sales along with a charity auction during the evening will help raise funds for our ongoing work on projects to sustain and protect our coastlines.

For an idea of what to expect, check out last year’s ball here.

On Saturday the 5th of November, a massive team of 210 Auckland-based Air New Zealand staff members and their families joined our crew for a clean-up of the Manukau Harbour. This marked the first Air New Zealand coastal clean-up with us, and in just over an hour volunteers managed to gather an impressive 8,000 litres — or a whopping 1.18 tonnes — of trash from the Harbour’s shores! A valiant effort.

This cooperative effort helps raise awareness of marine debris and urban trash that makes its way into our oceans, more often than not through our storm water drains. This kind of hands-on action reaffirms the initial briefing the staff were given before the clean-up and opened a lot eyes to how much of an issue coastal trash is.

After the clean-up the Air New Zealand and Sustainable Coastlines crew were treated to an intimate and excellent performance from none other than Fat Freddy’s Drop. The crew enjoyed the band, ate delicious food and washed it all down with a few refreshments at Royal Oak Intermediate sports field, celebrating a fun and rewarding day.

In the course of applied action like this over our past few years of operations we have found this to be an admirable, practical, fun way for organisations and their employees to learn about how litter from our streets really affects our coastlines on a huge scale.

If your organisation would like to take part in an event like this, contact us today.

Thank you

A huge thank you to everyone who turned-up on Saturday to help us clean-up in Thames, Coromandel Town, Whitianga, Pauanui and Whangamata. Around 160 of us worked together to remove rubbish from coastlines around the Peninsula. Combined with the nearly 400 volunteers from schools and community groups in the weeks leading up to this Saturday, we have left the Coromandel’s beaches a whole lot cleaner.

A massive thank you also to our Team Leaders, Clean-up Station helpers, and of course our fantastic sponsors. Without you all, we could not have achieved what we did. Over the next few days our team will be in Thames going through the rubbish we collected with a fine-toothed comb. A massive thank you to Smart Environmental for transporting all of the rubbish, and thanks to Pat from Carson’s Bookshop for generously provided the site for our data collection. Watch this space for a full detailed breakdown of results, as well as photos from the day.

Enter our Photo Comp!

We are looking for photos from the day and would love to see yours. Send your best pics to us at [email protected] or — if you’ve got high-res shots that are a battle to email — upload them straight to our swish dropbox system by clicking here.

Some very fancy prizes are up for grabs from PhotoCPL, Arnette and the grand prize from local photographer and photo comp judge Kevin RIchards. So show off your photographic prowess and send us your pics! Check out photos from previous winners here. Make sure you get them in before entries close at 5pm on Wednesday 21st March. We’ll be announcing winners the following week.

The legal stuff: By submitting photos into the Great Coromandel Coastal Clean-up Photo Comp you are agreeing to grant Sustainable Coastlines Incorporated, any media and partner organisations a license to use, distribute publish or exhibit these photos in any manner either now known or subsequently devised and without any restrictions, in perpetuity. If you request, your photo will be duly credited whenever used in this way.

Final event details

We’re ready for this weekend’s Great Coromandel Coastal Clean-up and want to make sure that you are too. Below is all of the latest information about the event including where to be, what to bring and what’s planned.

Where to be

All you need to do is turn up at any time from 10am to 2pm this Saturday 10 March at one of our five meeting points around the Coromandel Peninsula (look for our big blue flags). We’ll have friendly crew waiting for you at the Long Bay Boat Ramp in Coromandel Town, Kuranui Bay Reserve in Thames, outside the Whangamata Surf Life Saving Club, outside the Pauanui Surf Life Saving Club, and at the Whitianga Wharf.

Just sign-in with our team, get your clean-up equipment (all provided free), and head out on foot, by car or boat to remove rubbish from stunning coastlines around the Coromandel Peninsula.

In Coromandel Town, volunteers will also have the opportunity to head out on boats for clean-up activities on the islands from Rangipukea in the south to the Happy Jacks in the north. Just meet at the boat ramp in Long Bay at 10am.

If you are keen to bring your vessel along to lend a hand on the day, then please contact Sam Judd on 021 058 9349 to discuss the details further. Some fuel may be available for boat owners.

What to bring

This clean-up will be a great adventure, but it is important that all event participants are well prepared so as to make the most of the day. Bring:

• Sturdy shoes: Coastal areas can be slippery and have sharp, loose rocks. You’ll need closed-toe, sturdy shoes (such as sports shoes or tramping boots).
• Warm and waterproof clothes: NZ weather is unpredictable. Please bring at least one warm top and a rain jacket in a backpack.
• Your car (optional): Some beaches we will be cleaning-up are driving distance from meeting points. If you’re happy to drive to a clean-up location, please bring your car and a tarpaulin for your boot to transport rubbish back to us! If not, then don’t worry, there are heaps of areas to access within walking distance of our meeting points.
• Sunscreen and a hat
• Plenty of food and water: Clean-up can be physically challenging so come prepared!
• Camera: Capture memories of a fantastic day and enter your best shots in our photo competition.
• We provide all clean-up equipment, including rubbish sacks, gloves and other safety gear.

Post clean-up celebration

All participants are invited to join us after the clean-up on Saturday afternoon at the stunning and secluded Tucks Bay, just north of Coromandel Town. From 5.00pm we’ll have live music and a BBQ for the first 100 people. Bring a gold coin donation for the BBQ and BYO drinks. This is a great chance to come together and celebrate what we have achieved. Volunteers can also camp here for the weekend – see ‘Camping for volunteers’ below.

Camping for volunteers

A bunch of you have told us you’ll be camping at our Tucks Bay volunteer campground on Friday night, Saturday night, or both. This info is for you:

• Arriving on Friday night? You’ll need to get to Long Bay Motor Camp office before 10.30pm. After this the campground gates will be closed for the evening.
• Tucks Bay has running water and composting toilets but no power, so bring a torch!
• Kitchen, toilet and shower blocks are 5 minutes walk away in Long Bay where there is power.
• Tucks Bay has a total fire ban, so no campfires are allowed.
• There is a wedding at one end of Tucks Bay from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, so please be respectful of their space during this time. This area will be marked off from Friday afternoon so that you’ll know where to set-up your tent.

Remember to bring:

• Camping gear: tent, sleeping bag, camping mattress, torch and spare batteries etc (remember Tucks Bay has no power).
• Food, drink and cooking equipment for your stay.
• 50 cent coins for hot showers.
• Surfboards, dive gear, fishing gear, bicycles etc for your own missions!

Getting there

Well, that all depends on where you are. We’ll assume that if you’re in the Coromandel you already know how to get to your clean-up location. So for out-of-towners…

Ferry to Coromandel Town: There is a regular 360 Discovery ferry sailing departing Auckland at 6pm on Friday 2 March, and a sailing leaving Coromandel (from Te Kouma) at 4.30pm on Sunday 4 March. See the 360 Discovery Coromandel page for full timetable and fare details. There is a free bus service from the ferry to Long Bay Motor Camp, just let them know that you’re part of our event.

Driving times: Auckland to Thames 1.5 hours, Auckland to Coromandel Town 2.5 hours, Auckland to Whangamata 2 hours, Auckland to Pauanui 2 hours, Auckland to Whitianga 2.5 hours. Get together a group of friends and car pool over for the weekend.

Photo comp

Weʼre holding a competition for the best shots from the event. Wherever you are, just bring along your camera and send your best pics to us at [email protected]. Check out some previous winners here and here.
We’ve got a whole heap of awesome prizes including sunnies from Arnette, coffee-table books from PhotoCPL and the major prize, an epic canvas print donated by local photographer and photo comp judge Kevin Richards.

Friday night movie

The evening before the clean-up, on Friday 9th March, we are putting on a free outdoor movie-screening. If the weather’s good, all are invited to join us from 7.30pm at Long Bay, Coromandel Town (5 minutes’ walk from the Tucks Bay campground) for a selection of short films and a feature-length movie. BYO picnic and deck chair.

Great Coromandel Coastal Clean-up

Last April, over 550 school students and volunteers as well as 18 boats joined us to remove 58,000 litres of rubbish – nearly two full shipping containers – of rubbish from the beautiful coastline and islands around Coromandel Town.
This year, thanks to the generous support of Smart Environmental and Thames Coromandel District Council we’re extending the Great Coromandel Coastal Clean-up right around both sides of the Peninsula and need your help on land and water to make this event a huge success. Register to volunteer now to receive event updates and to stay in the loop with all the details you need for the clean-up.

Boat owners: for the perfect excuse to launch your craft, please see ‘Bring your boat’ below…

To get involved, just turn up to one of our five clean-up locations listed below between 10am and 2pm on Saturday 10 March. Sign-in with our team, get your clean-up equipment (all provided for free), and hit the beaches en masse to give back to our beautiful coastlines.

Clean-up locations

Coromandel Town: Meet at the Long Bay Boat Ramp · Camp at Tucks Bay · Book-in camping

Thames: Meet at Kuranui Bay Reserve, Thames

Whangamata: Meet outside the Whangamata Surf Life Saving Club

Pauanui: Meet outside the Pauanui Surf Life Saving Club

Whitianga: Meet at the Whitianga Wharf

If you’re based anywhere else around the Coromandel and want to clean-up your local stretch of coastline, we can help out. Just email Event Director Ryley Webster on [email protected]

Camping details

The native-bush clad Tucks Bay volunteer campground is the place to be for all participants, especially those cleaning-up around Coromandel Town. This secluded bay, part of the beautiful Long Bay Motor Camp, is also the venue for our post-event BBQ and live music on Saturday afternoon.

Book-in your spot online and camping is available for just $10 + BF per person, per night (usually $19). Bookings are available for Friday 9 March, Saturday 10 March, or both nights. Spaces are limited, so get in quick!

From Long Bay, Tucks Bay is just a two-minute drive or a 5 minute walk around the coastal path. Tucks Bay has running water and composting toilets but no power, so please bring a torch! Kitchen, toilet and shower blocks – as well as the public boat ramp – are located back in Long Bay where there is power. Bring 50 cent coins for hot showers. Check out a map of Tucks Bay here.

Of course you don’t have to stay at Tucks Bay to be a part of the event. Cabins and caravans are available at Long Bay Motor Camp and you can find other accommodation options around the Coromandel here.

Bring your boat

On Saturday 10 March we will take as many volunteers as possible to clean-up the islands between Rangipukea in the south and the Happy Jacks in the north, off the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. We need boats to make it happen. If you have a boat that you would be able to bring along on Saturday 10 March, please contact Director of Marine Operations Sam Judd on 021 058 9349 or email [email protected]
Reef Shipping has kindly offered to supply free fuel for boats if you register early.

School clean-ups

Starting Monday 20 February our team will be visiting schools for fun, educational presentations followed by beach clean-ups that give students a brilliant opportunity for hands-on learning.

If your school wants to take part in a clean-up anywhere around the Coromandel Peninsula, simply fill out the schools’ registration form here and we will be in touch to make arrangements. For any questions in the meantime, just contact Event Director Ryley Webster on 021 040 9014 or email [email protected]

Fantastic weather, world-class women’s surfing and the festive atmosphere saw thousands of spectators come down to the beach over the duration of the festival. The surf conditions were terrific, and showcased the skills from the likes of Sofia Mulanovich of Peru, local favorite Paige Hareb, and winner Stephanie Gilmore from Australia.

The Sustainable Coastlines Education Station made the journey down to Fitzroy and quickly became the hub of the kids community for the week. This offered fun educational material, practical and enjoyable activities for the kids and welcome shelter from the sun and rain.

Important messages portrayed included that rubbish on the streets and in the parks, makes its way to the ocean via the storm water system or is blown by the wind. We also explained the issues created by rubbish once it enters the ocean and explored the characteristics of plastics, which passed on knowledge to curious kids and adults alike.

Throughout the festival, Sustainable Coastlines organised clean-up activities, which removed a large portion of consumer event rubbish and ensured the festival maintained an exceptional level of coastal cleanliness. Kids were rewarded with Whittaker’s chocolate for their efforts, which kept them motivated to help out for the duration of the event.

Aside from event litter, we were very interested in the frequency at which certain items turned up on the coast. Taranaki is a region that is rich in farming, so we were not surprised to find a sizable portion of farming related rubbish including; 42 electric fence insulators, 56 drench applicators, and 367 pieces of wadding from shotgun shells.

Common items that Sustainable Coastlines find around the entire country were also widespread on the Taranaki coast. These included; 147 food wrappers, 187 pieces of rope, 600 caps and lids, 660 pieces of polystyrene/foam and a whopping 3,613 pieces of unidentifiable partially photo-degraded plastic.

The total haul of rubbish over the festival was 102.75 kilograms, which equated to 1, 143 liters (just over 8 regular red household curbside wheelie bins), and well over 6,000 individual pieces.

Another educational initiative during the contest was dune planting. Along with volunteers and the help of pro surfers Sofia Mulanovich and Rebecca Woods, we planted several hundred native dune plants kindly sponsored by the Taranaki Tree Trust.

We would like to extend a huge thanks to TSB Bank, Surfing Taranaki, New Plymouth District Council, PowerCo and all the organisations that made the New Zealand Surf Festival such a memorable success.

An enormous thank you also goes out to the local folk of Taranaki for hosting an event of this nature, and accommodating the people associated with the event.

Overall, we thought the event was run very well and were pleased to see the sustainable initiatives incorporated into an experience where this beautiful coastline is shared with a worldwide audience.

Background

Sustainable Coastlines is a New Zealand-based charity group that coordinates and supports large-scale coastal clean-up events, educational programs, public awareness campaigns, riparian planting activities and other projects aimed at looking after coastlines around Aotearoa and the Pacific.

In 2010 Sustainable Coastlines worked with other New Zealand non-profits to launch Love your Coast: an ongoing resource to help people around the world learn how to look after the coastlines we all love. Through the project website, www.loveyourcoast.org, anyone can learn more about the issues affecting our coastlines, find events, create their own clean-up and share their results for free. The project informs and motivates communities to look after their local environment through simple, hands-on solutions.

From 22 October to 11 November 2012, representatives from Sustainable Coastlines worked alongside the Cook Islands National Environment Service to deliver the Love your Coast Rarotonga: Education and Clean-up Tour. This three-week project was an introduction to ‘Love your Coast’ in the Cook Islands: raising awareness about the effects of littering on the marine environment and assessing the community need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of this important message.

Key objectives

• Spread awareness messaging on the effects of litter in the marine environment and motivate people to take action.
• Establish the need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of litter awareness messaging.
• Find and train existing and potential leaders in educational roles in the delivery of the Love your Coast litter awareness presentation for ongoing dissemination of this message.
• Share resources and expertise for educating communities on the effects of litter in the marine environment and generally for pro-environmental behavioural change.
• Develop and improve educational content, establish key contacts and consider initial plans to extend a similar project around other groups in the Cook Islands.
• Gain an overview of the waste management systems currently in place in the Cook Islands, the work going on in this space, and identify opportunities for incorporating locally-relevant waste minimisation education into awareness messaging.
• Introduce ‘Love your Coast’ to the Cook Islands National Environment Service, schools and other community groups.

Findings

Single-use plastic problem

Over the course of the tour 527 volunteers were motivated to remove 5,680 litres / 713 kilograms of rubbish from local coastlines. In total nearly 20,000 individual items of rubbish were picked-up, including 2,196 plastic bags, 2,250 food wrappers or containers, and 1,065 plastic bottles. Single-use, disposable plastic products made up over 66% of the items found: evidence that echoes the educational message about reducing dependence on these products that was delivered during the tour. These findings provide a strong rationale for the great work the Cook Islands government is already doing to phase out the import of single-use plastic products such as plastic bags.

Strong educational results

The Love your Coast awareness presentation was delivered to 817 people in Rarotonga, mainly school students. This presentation was a locally tailored version of a presentation that has been delivered to over 67,000 people around the Pacific in the last three and a half years. Through surveys of the school students that attended*, it is evident that the Love your Coast presentation was both enjoyable and impactful, with students indicating good retention of information and positive behavioural intent:

• 78% liked the presentation “A lot”
• 86% understood “Everything” or “Most” of the presentation.
• 78% learned “A lot” from the films and photos showed.
• 89% said they would talk to others about looking after their rubbish.
• 57% said the presentation made them want to clean-up the beach “A lot”.
• 82% said that following the presentation, they want to “Tell other people not to drop rubbish”.
• 73% said that following the presentation, they want to “Use less plastic”.

*Figures are from surveys returned from 174 students at time of publication.

Ongoing need for improved waste behaviour

Despite a modern waste management system including an engineered and lined landfill, recently upgraded recycling centre and free weekly collection service for rubbish and recycling, litter problems and poor waste disposal practices are still evident. Rubbish burning and littering is frequently witnessed around the island and laws against these actions are rarely enforced. A recent audit of the landfill showed that 67.5% of materials could have been diverted through recycling or composting: a statistic that contributes to current estimates that a new landfill will be needed in seven years.

Need for ongoing clean-ups

This project built on the success of September’s second annual Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up, an event that is set to continue under the leadership of the National Environment Service. It is clear that coastal clean-ups are a well-established community activity and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future. The volumes of rubbish collected in the small number of clean-up activities during this tour, such a short time after September’s clean-up events, indicate an ongoing community need for these activities.

Further awareness resources needed

The core message of this tour was to raise awareness of the effects of rubbish on our marine environment and simple solutions to address it.

While a number of educational materials currently exist for waste education in the Cook Islands, few cover the effects of litter in the marine environment. It was also evident that further resources are required to deliver and spread the educational message. During the Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up, for example, resources were not available to provide participating schools with an educational background to the clean-up activity.

Project participants – including teachers, principals and community group leaders — expressed enthusiasm for both digital and printed versions of Love your Coast awareness resources.

Digital versions of these were supplied to National Environment Service, Creative Centre, Avatea Primary School, Nukutere College, Titikaveka College, Takitumu Primary School, Te Uki Ou School, Creative Centre, WATSAN, Muri Environment Care Group, Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative, and Aitutaki Conservation Trust.

Media willing to assist in educating the community

Significant media attention was received throughout the project, with two features on national television, interviews on two radio stations and extensive coverage in the national daily newspaper Cook Islands News.

This coverage extended the reach of the awareness message far beyond the participants who engaged directly, creating a large launch and providing a strong precedent to help secure future project sponsorship opportunities.

Prior to the completion of the tour, a number of short awareness spots were recorded in partnership with Matariki FM, a popular Rarotonga-wide radio station. There are plans to translate these into Cook Islands Maori and air them on an ongoing basis. Plans are also in place, pending availability of funds to cover costs, to install signage alongside the main road in Avarua to further promote the Love your Coast message. Several groups advised that there would be a strong opportunity for government funded and/or pro-bono media space available for a video-based litter awareness message on national television, an indication that provides a strong justification for the production of such a resource.

Live entertainment an important incentive

A number of contacts indicated that a free, all ages musical celebration, would be a highly effective way of rewarding project participants and incentivizing involvement. This mix of entertainment, fun and education has proven to be successful in past projects and helps to position Love your Coast activities as desirable rather than a community service or obligation. Initial discussions regarding such a celebration alongside Friday 9 November’s Tiki Taane & Shapeshifter concert had to be abandoned due to a change in concert venue outside of the control of Sustainable Coastlines. Other incentives discussed include providing Love your Coast t-shirts and/or reusable water bottles to key supporters. These concepts are both effective means of promoting a positive environmental message on a long-term basis.

Educational and community leaders key contacts

Leaders of educational institutions, NGOs and villages around Rarotonga proved to be the most receptive to the Love your Coast project. They responded to and engaged with awareness, coastal clean-up and data collection activities throughout the project and showed enthusiasm for future involvement. Some progress was made in training leaders to deliver awareness materials on an ongoing basis and all such leaders were provided with resources to learn more.

Timing of events & program is of critical importance

Timing for this part of the project occurred in alignment with a Friday 9 November concert held by popular band Shapeshifter as a fundraiser for Sustainable Coastlines. This assisted the charity to cover essential logistical costs, but also reduced the lead-in time for the program. We have identified that with a longer lead-in time that engagement levels would increase and make the project even more successful. Similar future projects would look further into the most appropriate timing to allow the largest possible community involvement and most effective awareness message. Initial discussions regarding a similar project in the future indicate that it would be most effective to align timings with those of Lagoon Day, National Environment Week, Constitution Week and/or the lead-up to the Rubbish Round-up.

Strong support from a variety of sectors promising for future

Sustainable Coastlines received support from a wide variety of organisations and people in the project. Assistance came from government, businesses (through sponsorship of accommodation, car hire and assistance on the ground), schools, and non-government organisations. This indicates strong opportunities to engage with and build the capacity of a great variety of people in the Cook Islands through future Love your Coast work.

Conclusion & Future Opportunities

The Love your Coast Rarotonga: Education and Clean-up Tour was conducted as a pilot study to gauge opportunities for ongoing work in the Cook Islands and other areas of the Pacific. Aside from the aforementioned objectives, this project was positioned as an educational follow-on from September’s Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up and was aligned to meet several objectives of the Cook Islands environmental theme for 2012 “Taau Taku Tita — Taking Action Against Waste 2012”.

The project found an evident ongoing community need for improved waste behaviours, coastal clean-up activities and litter awareness work in Rarotonga. A strong opportunity exists to further spread this work in Rarotonga and strategically introduce it to other Cook Islands communities, with consideration to improvements in waste management systems.

The major objective of future work would be to fully train Love your Coast ‘ambassadors’ in as many Cook Islands communities as possible that would independently conduct ongoing litter awareness, prevention and clean-up activities.

Collaboration with the Cook Islands National Environment Service made a crucial difference in the first stage of this project. Their provision of logistical support, relevant local knowledge, key contacts within the community and experience in the regional environmental sector was invaluable and it is recommended that future work aligns with their priorities and helps to build their capacity.

Gaining support from school principals, village MP’s, local NGO’s, church and youth group leaders is critical in garnering high levels of community involvement. These connections offer mutually beneficial rewards, involving more people in local solutions while allowing the transfer of knowledge and skills specific to the Love your Coast project to a diverse range of groups.

In addition, future projects aim to align with the Cook Islands National Olympic Committee to train and up-skill athletes as local project ambassadors.

By connecting simple, individual actions with a common and highly tangible problem, the Love your Coast project provides the perfect opportunity for an achievable community-owned and -run solution.

In a short time a good appreciation was gained of the community need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of the Love your Coast litter awareness message. With more resources, similar projects in the future can reach more of the community and set in motion a longer-term litter awareness and prevention strategy that applies not only to Rarotonga but also to the Outer Islands.

Project details

In late October and early November this year, we are working alongside the Cook Islands National Environment Service to run our latest awareness and action project: the Love your Coast Rarotonga Education and Clean-up Tour.

We invite any interested schools, community groups and organisations in Rarotonga to join the fun and get involved! Our experienced presenters and event managers will happily visit your group to run free awareness presentations, training workshops and/or coastal clean-up activities. This free opportunity is available anytime from Saturday 27 October to Thursday 8 November.

Following September’s successful Clean-up the Cook Islands and Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up projects, this is a great opportunity to gain detailed knowledge on the impacts litter has on our marine environments and reinforce the importance of litter prevention and clean-up work.

During our informative awareness presentation — that we have presented to over 55,000 people around the Pacific since 2008 — we use imagery and short films to build an understanding of the simple but common challenge of litter in the marine environment, and motivate attendees to work hands-on to look after their local stretch of coast. Our presentation takes around 30 minutes, with time for discussion at the end. Timings for the presentation are flexible and can be tailored to suit whatever time you have available.

For those that are interested in learning more, we can run a 45 minute training workshop immediately following our awareness presentation: passing on skills to help teach others about litter in the marine environment. Resources will also be provided for ongoing use, including short films, Powerpoint Presentations, planning documents, safety information, beach clean-up data collection sheets, posters and online tools.

We have our own presentation equipment including computer, projector, screen and speakers, so you will not need to arrange these for our visit. For coastal clean-ups with your group, we can help with planning and can provide rubbish sacks, gloves and safety equipment.

To find out more or confirm your involvement in this project, please email Project Manager Camden Howitt on [email protected] or call (682) 78218 and we will be in touch to confirm arrangements. We look forward to hearing from you.

Project contact

Camden Howitt
Project Manager
Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust
[email protected]
(682) 78218

More background

To coordinate a more effective project in Rarotonga we have been working with local governmental departments, organisations and community groups in both the planning and implementation phase of this project. This project is a pilot study that – if proven successful in Rarotonga – could be extended to outer island communities.

We have also partnered on this project with hugely popular band Shapeshifter, who are holding a concert in Rarotonga on Friday 9 November. The proceeds from this concert will go towards meeting costs for this project and future work in the Cook Islands.

A huge thank you in particular to National Environment Service, The Edgewater Resort & Spa, Island Car & Bike Hire, Muri Environment Care, WATSAN, Reef Shipping and our partners Lantern Insurance and Benefitz for your generous support of this project. Without the support of organisations like yours this project simply would not be possible.

This Saturday 15 December we invite you, your family and friends to attend a special celebration of the Year of the Coast.

The efforts of Wellingtonians during this special year will be celebrated with a free outdoor screening of dramatic award-winning nature documentary Oceans at Waitangi Park on Wellington’s waterfront, starting at 8pm.

Filmed in over 50 different countries over four years, Oceans is a visual feast that uses cutting edge filming techniques to profile the creatures living in all five of the world’s oceans, in footage rarely seen on the big screen.

Thousands of volunteers across the Wellington region have been out in force looking after the coast this year. In just one hour, over 500 volunteers from Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wellington worked on International Coastal Clean-up Day in September to collect more than 100,000 pieces (over five tonnes) of waste from the region’s coastlines.

The ‘Educate to eliminate’ events have seen large numbers dedicated scuba divers – including the Mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade-Brown – remove huge amounts from the murky depths under city wharves and Sustainable Coastlines have worked with over 2,700 school students cleaning up the region around the region and learning about the issue of marine debris.

This Saturday’s screening promises a treat for the whole family, with a gold-coin organic barbecue feast kindly provided by Harmony Meats to accompany the movie.

On Saturday 9 February, volunteers are invited to join our clean-up of the wild western coastline of Muriwai Beach.

Simply meet at the Muriwai Surf Club at the south end of Muriwai Beach at 10.30am, Saturday 9 February, to sign-in and collect clean-up equipment. From there we will split into teams and head out along the coast on foot and by 4WD vehicle.

Bring your own 4WD vehicle to allow us to clean-up the largest area possible and for a great opportunity to explore this epic west coast beach.

This wild stretch of coastline, although well looked after by locals, is affected by a regular flow of waste from beach-goers, fishing activity and the Tasman Sea, so let’s get together to clean it up.

In the afternoon following the clean-up our team, accompanied by our mobile classroom ‘Education Station’, will be spreading the good word at Music at Matua. Join us there for a fantastic summer festival, great music and to learn more about Sustainable Coastlines’ work.

To help with event planning we need to know how many people will bring their 4WD vehicle. Please register your vehicle here. The first 20 people to register to bring their 4WD will receive one free ticket to Music at Matua*.

Participants need to bring:

• Sturdy shoes: this area has some challenging coastal terrain with rocks that can be sharp, loose and slippery. You’ll need closed-toe, sturdy shoes (such as sneakers, sports shoes or tramping boots).
• Warm and waterproof clothes: NZ weather is unpredictable. Bring at least one warm top (ideally old woolen) and a rain jacket.
• Sun hat and sun cream.
• Reusable water bottle (filled-up and ready to go).
• Camera (optional) – this is a unique and beautiful location and we would love to see your photos after the event.
• Your own 4WD (optional) – this is a great opportunity to explore this area.

Any questions, contact Ryley Webster, Event Director at [email protected]

*Free ticket to Music at Matua will be issued upon return from clean-up activities.

Seaweek is a national celebration, held from 2 – 10 March, that focuses on inspiring kiwis to renew their connections with the sea. To celebrate, we are hosting a Seaweek exhibition and activity space from our ‘Education Station’ at downtown Auckland’s new Silo Park. Free educational presentations, workshops and activities will be available for schools, businesses and community groups from 10am to 8pm each day from Monday 4 to Thursday 7 March.

Our scheduled activities can be found below. All activities are free and open to anyone to attend on a first-come first-served basis. Outside of these times all are welcome to explore our exhibition space and browse our photos, videos, display and educational materials, as well as contribute to a collaborative artwork made from beach clean-up rubbish.

Monday 4 March

10.30am to 2.00pm — Four spaces for volunteers on boat-based rubbish clean-ups with Watercare Harbour Clean-up Trust. First-in, first-served. Meet at our Education Station at 10.00am.
12.30pm to 1.30pm — Department of Conservation ‘Treasure Islands’ presentation (more details here)
4.00pm to 5.30pm — Sustainable Coastlines practical workshop for kids (more details here)

Tuesday 5 March

10.30am to 2.00pm — Four spaces for volunteers on boat-based rubbish clean-ups with Watercare Harbour Clean-up Trust. First-in, first-served. Meet at our Education Station at 10.00am.
11.30am to 12.15pm — Dianna Cohen from Plastic Pollution Coalition: Solutions to Plastic Pollution presentation (more details here)
12.30pm to 1.30pm — Marine Metre Squared workshop (more details here)
4.00pm to 5.30pm — Sustainable Coastlines practical workshop for kids (more details here)
6.00pm to 7.00pm — Project Jonah Whale and Dolphin Rescue intro workshop (more details here)

Wednesday 6 March

12.30pm to 1.30pm — Department of Conservation ‘Seals’ presentation (more details here)
4.00pm to 5.30pm — Sustainable Coastlines practical workshop for kids (more details here)
6.00pm to 7.30pm — Sustainable Coastlines practical workshop for adults

Thursday 7 March

10.30am to 2.00pm — Four spaces for volunteers on boat-based rubbish clean-ups with Watercare Harbour Clean-up Trust. First-in, first-served. Meet at our Education Station at 10.00am.
12.30pm to 1.30pm — Department of Conservation ‘Seals’ presentation (more details here)
4.00pm to 5.30pm — Sustainable Coastlines practical workshop for kids (more details here)

We are also encouraging others to run their own clean-ups via our Love your Coast website. We have reusable sacks and gloves that non-profits and educational institutions can borrow for free. Contact us by emailing [email protected]

On Saturday 23 March we’ll be joining the star-studded line-up at the Sounds On festival at The Oval, North Harbour Stadium. With a raft of Aotearoa’s favourite acts and a strong commitment to environmental and social awareness, we’ll be there to join the fun. Our team will be at the festival raising awareness about litter in our marine environment, as well as running beach clean-ups at Takapuna and Milford beaches en route to the gig.

Clean-up details

To join in, simply jump on the specially chartered ‘clean-up bus’ from Auckland CBD at stop number 7055, The Civic, Queen St at 10.00am on Saturday 23 March. This bus will arrive at Takapuna Beach at 10.30am and Milford Beach at 11.15am for clean-ups of both beaches. You can catch this bus for free with your Sounds On ticket. The clean up bus will arrive at Sounds On at approximately 12:15pm.

If you’re taking your own vehicle to the festival, or just want to join the clean-ups anyway, just meet us at Takapuna Beach or Milford Beach anytime from 9.00am to 11.30am. Look out for our big blue flags. All equipment (sacks and gloves) and rubbish disposal provided.

Through a partnership with Auckland Transport, festival-goers can catch event buses and trains within Auckland at no extra cost. Just show your Sounds On ticket to travel free. This will dramatically reduce emissions and congestion; while providing punters with a fuss-free and safe way to travel to the event. Find out more about event buses here.

More about Sounds On

The line-up features: The Black Seeds, David Dallas, Home Brew, Katchafire, TrinityRoots, AHoriBuzz, Tahuna Breaks, Tiki Taane, Five Mile Town, Dan Aux & Tali, DJ Sir-Vere ft. Che Fu, PNC & K One, Eavesdrop and Kong Fooey.

The other NGOs joining this amazing line up in the Sitka & Element GOODZONE include Conscious Consumers, The Global Poverty Project, SurfAid International, Sea Shepherd, S.A.F.E. and Forest & Bird. Designed to promote change at Tuborg Sounds On, The Sitka & Element GOODZONE looks to engage music fans in a fun and informative way – and to inspire change in the way Kiwis think, act and live.

A destination at the festival, The Sitka and Element GOODZONE will feature seven high profile NGOs alongside food vendors, giant games and amusement rides creating a place for festival-goers to learn, be entertained, eat and drink. Participating NGOs represent a broad range of topics including coastal, marine and forest conservation, humanitarian efforts, sustainable business and animal protection advocacy.