Prizes to encourage participation in clean-up

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Keep Hutt City Beautiful Chairman Ray Wallace prepares to toss plastic bottles containing prize vouchers into the Hutt River as part of this year’s clean-up week.

The annual clean-up of Hutt City’s beaches, waterways, parks and streets will this year include an incentive – find a bottle with a voucher inside and win a $40 voucher.

Pictured is Keep Hutt City Beautiful Chairman Ray Wallace preparing to toss plastic bottles containing prize vouchers into the Hutt River as part of this year’s clean-up week.

The Keep Hutt City Beautiful Committee initiative is aimed at encouraging community groups, schools, businesses, families and individuals to join in the 2008 clean-up week, which begins on Friday.

This year’s event is being held earlier than usual to coincide with Conservation Week.

“We want to encourage everyone in the community to take action in making our environment a cleaner, healthier place to live,” says KHCB Chairman and city councillor Ray Wallace.

Hutt City’s local theme this year is Community Coast Care.

“There is increasing concern about the amount of rubbish, especially plastic in our waterways, ending up in the sea and on the beaches,” Cr Wallace says. “We will be focusing on the number of plastic bottles found in the streets, parks, sports grounds, riverbanks and on the beaches.”

KHCB is encouraging participants to carry out a plastic bottle litter survey by counting the number found, the type of bottle and its location.

“We will also be releasing 20 re-used plastic bottles at various locations to discover exactly where they end up. We’re hoping they will all be found fairly quickly, but we might even find someone claiming the voucher from Australia or Chile.”

The 20 bottles being released are clear plastic soft drink bottles (PET – polyethylene terephthalate – code 1) either 1.5 litre or 600ml.

They will contain a bright orange form with a message to send back with information about where the bottle was found. A pre-paid envelope is also inside the bottle.
The bottles will be released at secret locations throughout the region. They can be recycled after being collected from beaches and riverbanks around Hutt City.

“The information we gather will hopefully show us where the bottles travelled and ended up,” Cr Wallace says. “It will be very useful information in our battle to keep the city beautiful, and it should be a lot of fun for participants.

“So organise your group, select a location and set a date for your clean-up project. We look forward to your participation.”

For litter clean-ups, bags and disposable gloves will be provided by Hutt City Council and the filled bags will be collected. To register your clean-up week project, please contact Alan Pope at Hutt City Council for information and to receive a form, or find it on-line here.

Alan Pope, Hutt City Council,
Private Bag 31912, Lower Hutt.
Phone: 570 6890
Fax: 570 6855
email: alan.pope@huttcity.govt.nz

For further information about clean-up week, go to: