Volunteers Remove Tonnes of Rubbish from Idyllic Island- Join them to “Toast Our Coast” Sustainable Coastlines, a newly registered New Zealand charity, recently conducted
a massive coastal clean-up on Aotea/Great Barrier Island. With over 700 volunteers they removed more than 2.2 tonnes of rubbish from the west facing coastline- 90% of which comes from Auckland City in the prevailing South Westerly winds. Sustainable Coastlines already has events planned for the future, including Tonga in late July and Gisborne after New Years Eve 2010. Because the Great Barrier event was such great success, they have decided to strike while the iron is hot and put on a in Auckland City on Friday the 8th of May, to make more of these events possible. Event Director Sam Judd first saw the rubbish problem on Great Barrier while working as a commercial freediver. After running a similarly successful event in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, he and several other volunteers – collectively known as Sustainable Coastlines – organised this massive event, all in the space of only six weeks, from the offices of the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Society. Great Barrier Island was chosen as a perfect example of a pristine location that needs to be preserved for their inaugural NZ event. After only two days, enough rubbish was collected from the island to fill the baggage hold of the 250-seat ferry: around 38,000 litres, in the hold and more stacked on top.