Keep New Zealand Beautiful is encouraging Kiwis across the country to ‘Do The Right Thing’ during G.J. Gardner Homes Clean Up Week, from 9-15 September. This is a great opportunity for people to join their friends, family, school, business or local community group in New Zealand's largest clean up event, to remove litter and rubbish from our local environment.
We asked the team at Keep New Zealand Beautiful for their top tips and tricks to get ready ahead of time.
Get your kit ready
The most important piece of any mission is the equipment! This year, we’re encouraging groups to create their own sustainable clean up kits. A lot of these items you may already have around the house. There are two key components you need for your event;
- Something to pick the rubbish up with – protect your hands with gardening gloves or dishwashing gloves, or use tongs to pick up the rubbish.
- Something to hold all the litter you collect – a bucket, chillybin, wheelbarrow, a washing basket with no holes in it, reusable plastic bins, garden sacks or fabric bags will do the trick – just remember to give them a good wash before using them again after your clean up day.
If you want to get involved but don’t have access to these items, you can request a clean up kit when you register your event and we will send you a pack that includes items we’ve been donated in previous years. The only catch is that to receive a kit, you have to register your event by August 30 so it arrives in time – so pop over and register today.
Pick your place
Choose the place you think could do with a bit of a spruce up. Places with lots of foot traffic such as parks, beaches and carparks are always a good bet.
Hot tip: Take a photo of the area before you and your team of volunteers begin your work, as well as all the litter you collect. It will add to the fantastic feeling of ‘Doing the Right Thing’ when you can compare the before and after photos and see the positive impact you had on the environment.
Make it a social activity
Get the crew together! Do you have a group of friends that you haven’t seen in a while, or think your colleagues could do with getting a day of fresh air? Clean ups are a great team building activity and you can cover more ground and collect more litter with bigger numbers, so the more the merrier.
Ask everyone to bring their reusable cups and go for a coffee after the event to toast your good work, or arrange a zero waste BBQ lunch for everyone who gave up their time to chip in.
Plan where to take the rubbish
We’ve had a word with the folks at Waste Management and Envirowaste and they’ve agreed to let Clean Up Week volunteers dispose of the rubbish they collect for free at selected transfer stations. Once you register your event, you’ll receive a KNZB digital sticker that you can present on your device when you arrive.
Tune in with your local council as sometimes they can provide additional bins, rubbish service collection or other transfer station fee waivers if they know about the event in advance.
Remember to separate your rubbish from your recycling. A fun way to do this is to work in pairs, where one person collects the rubbish and the other collects the recycling – it gives you a buddy and saves you rifling through everything at the end of the collection.
Most of all – have fun! G.J. Gardner Homes Clean Up Week is great way to get together with your community and have a positive impact on our environment. We hope you’ll join us in September to make this the biggest and best Clean Up Week yet!
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G.J. Gardner Homes Clean Up Week
9-15 September
Head to knzb.org.nz to register your own or find a clean up event near you.