Watercare Harbour Clean-Up Trust and volunteers from Spark collected 5000 litres of litter within an hour from a 100 metre stretch of the Tamaki River in April. The most common items were bottles, plastic bags and polystyrene but included tyres, furniture, clothing, kids’ toys, and even a TV.
Watercare Harbour Clean-Up Trust contractors Hayden Smith and Ben Harris said that while the amount of rubbish was slightly higher than normal, types were typical of what is regularly collected around East Tamaki. Smith says the majority of rubbish is improperly disposed of on streets, then ends up in drains, the stormwater network and is moved by rain, wind and tides.
31 million litres of rubbish have been removed from Auckland harbours since the trust was launched in 2002.
