Easter clean-up diverts over half the rubbish collected from landfill

By Frances Hancock

           Every year Ambury Farm Park Rangers and our Friends of the Farm group co-host an event for families aimed at creating wonderful childhood memories for kids by caring for our environment. The annual Easter Clean-up is combined with a special Easter egg hunt for kids and a family sausage sizzle.

           This year around 50 volunteers spent a couple of hours roaming the Ambury foreshore, crawling under trees and around the base of large flax bushes, and tromping through our local Tararata Stream to collect rubbish.

           The main ‘finds’ were unsurprising and feature every year. By far the most common source of rubbish is food wrappers, including potato chip bags, muesli bar wrapping, lolly wrappers, and the like. Close behind are beer bottles, plastic bottles and drink cans.

           There’s always endless amounts of plastic bags, which draws our attention because we have a popular plastic bag collection point at the weekly Mangere Bridge Village Sunday Market. We’re doing our best to reduce this source of rubbish in the landfill through creative recycling.

           This year we found numerous shoes (but no pairs!), underwear and hankies. We picked up polystyrene bits and bobs, and bottle tops by the dozens. Sadly drink straws were also a very popular find.

           We retrieved a door and a window along with many planks of wood. There was rope by the yard and even a thermos bottle. One young volunteer found a child’s toy in good condition.

           For some fun and to check our attention, Janine our Farm Ranger planted a mannequin on the foreshore, which a young volunteer found with great pride. Offering chocolate Easter bunnies as a prize, Janine also had the whole crowd guessing the weight of the rubbish we collected and how many rabbits poo she had put in a glass jar - 1234!

           This year we diverted 62% of the rubbish collected from the landfill. We weighed 35 kilos of rubbish now destined for the landfill and another 57 kilos will be sent for recycling. The 92 kilos weighed did not include the heavy wooden planks retrieved from the foreshore and other heavy items.

           Seeing familiar faces return, year after year, is encouraging. I always enjoy meeting newcomers, many of whom live locally, and working alongside them to care for our beautiful environment.

           As always, the enthusiasm and leadership of the children makes the event particularly meaningful and inspires hope for the future. A farm/community working bee offers huge educational and social value as we connect more with our environment and one another.

           Dawn and Denise, our Oddbits gals, hid the Easter eggs and it was something to watch the children swarm around the paddock in search of their well-deserved treats. Wonderful childhood memories – you bet! My son still remembers the time he and his mates found a dead sheep under the trees during Easter clean-up!

           Special thank you to the Ambury Rangers for their ongoing support for all our Friends activities and the terrific partnership they’ve forged and actively maintain with our Mangere Bridge community. Their goodwill and encouragement is hugely appreciated.