Clean Up Week for Keep NZ Beautiful

Published date20 July 2022
Publication titleWest Coast Messenger, The
This annual community initiative focuses New Zealanders' attention on just how much litter is out there, with volunteers last year joining together to help remove approximately 300 tonnes of litter across the country, across an area equivalent to 2600 rugby fields

Heather Saunderson, Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO says, "Clean Up Week encourages Kiwi families to 'Do the Right Thing' and work together to clean up their little part of New Zealand.

"All too often we see litter within our communities and pass it off as somebody else's problem. Clean Up Week provides a great opportunity for everyone to actively participate in looking after their local environment, creating a more sustainable, ecologically diverse and pollution-free future for all New Zealanders."

This year Keep New Zealand Beautiful celebrates 55 years of environmental community work, a testament to the organisation's dedication to protecting New Zealand's environment. Being clean and green is not only vital for our own health and that of our waterways, flora, fauna and whenua, but also for the protection of our much-valued tourism industry, our climate future and the wellbeing of generations to come.

Anyone can get involved in Clean Up Week from schools, businesses, community groups or even just individuals wanting to make a difference.

"Last year we had 30,390 volunteers dedicate their time during Clean Up Week to tidy up their communities, and we're urging more Kiwi families to take up the challenge this year," says Ms Saunderson.

For the first time, there will be the opportunity for those involved to contribute to KNZB's Citizen Science programmes as part of Clean Up Week. The programmes are a great way for individuals to get involved, collaborate, and contribute to the litter solution while gaining experience in data collection and analysis.

"This year we launched both our Upstream and Backyard Battle citizen science programmes which contribute to a national and international data set. Citizen science is a great opportunity for volunteers...

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