Student trash clean-up nets bicycle

A clean-up of walkways around the Waikareao Estuary and Wharepai Domain by 180 local school students and 30 to 40 volunteers yesterday netted an estimated 300 to 400kg of rubbish.

Tauranga City Council's pollution prevention officer Radleigh Cairns said among the items were old tyres, bags of household rubbish, lots of recyclable plastics, and a "perfectly good" bicycle.

The vast majority of the volunteers who helped during the nearly four hours of clean-up were 120 students from Tauranga Intermediate and 60 from Pillans Point School.

The rest of the 30 to 40 volunteers included staff from Tauranga City Council and the regional council plus members of the Keep Tauranga Beautiful and Waikareao Estuary Care Group.

Mr Cairns said every little bit of rubbish collected made a difference as it helped to reduce the negative impact on the water quality and the harm to aquatic life.