An offer businesses can't refuse

Heart of the City ambassadors Werner Mascarenhas (left) and Jonathan Clark with the floral bags. Photo / Natalie Slade

The third phase of Heart of the City's campaign to get businesses focused on rubbish begins in Auckland today in the hope of getting the city cleaned up ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

A total of 1700 refuse bags decorated with a floral print have been handed out to CBD businesses to remind them of the daily morning and evening collection times.

Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said the campaign was aimed at highlighting the issue ahead of the cup and promoting rubbish collection to prevent bags sitting on the streets.

He said the campaign started last November and was now in its third phase. While it had been successful, he said there was always room for improvement.

"Just like with all these things, you can't come out on the eve of the RWC and expect behaviours to change and cities to be clean. We are in a high-density area, and there is a long lead into this. Not just in terms of infrastructure build but in the way people's behaviour changes.

"The bags are a physical demonstration of doing something differently. We're trying to make a positive out of rubbish by trying to make it look better [through the floral bags] ... In places where there have been a high proportion of [illegal] dumps, we have taken the flower theme of the rubbish bags and planted flower beds there."

Mr Swney said packs containing bags and information, printed in several languages, about what can be thrown away and when, had been delivered to CBD businesses.

"The point of putting this out before the RWC, is that we are noticing it has a compounding effect, we are establishing a new pattern, a new way of thinking about this issue. We are trying to create a new habit, to remind business when the collection is."

Auckland City Mayor Len Brown said research had shown that businesses responded to such campaigns and amended their behaviour.

"Right now illegally dumped rubbish consumes hours of the council's time each week with extra collections, investigations and follow-up with non-compliant businesses required. That's a burden for ratepayers and the illegally dumped rubbish is not a good look for Auckland either."