Paihia road clean-up nets 90 bags of rubbish

Volunteers collected more than 90 bags of rubbish along a 14km stretch of Puketona Rd, Paihia, on Saturday. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A clean-up of 14km of roadside near Paihia has netted more than 90 bags of rubbish, most of which appeared to have been flung out of the windows of passing cars.

About 30 volunteers started at Haruru Falls at 9am on Saturday then spread out in both directions along busy Puketona Rd, picking up trash from the junction with State Highway 10 to Countdown in Waitangi.

As well as vast quantities of pie wrappers, drink cans and car parts, the volunteers — who ranged from primary school children to grandmas — found disgusting items such as a cloth shopping bag full of used nappies. Ironically the bag was printed with the slogan "I'm a proud Kiwi".

Some of the bags used to collect the rubbish were donated by Northland Waste Mid North, which organiser Rae Smythe delivered to letterboxes along Puketona Rd with an invitation to home owners to fill the bags with rubbish from their own road front. One home owner not only filled a bag but also left a jug of cold drink for the volunteers.

The rest of the bags were donated by environmental organisation Sea Cleaners, which also organised disposal.

Smythe was delighted with the turnout and the result, though disappointed with the sheer amount of rubbish strewn along the road.

The volunteers were rewarded afterwards with a shared lunch and cuppa at the Ecohub, at the junction with Kaipatiki Rd.

Saturday's rubbish blitz follows a similar volunteer clean-up along SH11 between Te Haumi and Opua last month.