Mount Maunganui Main Beach clean-up raises awareness of bottling plant case

Volunteers up and down Mount Main Beach this morning were busy scrabbling in the sand to clear our beach of rubbish.

The clean-up was part of an effort to raise awareness of the fight against consent approvals for a planned expansion of the Otakiri Springs water bottling plant. Opposers are taking the case to the High Court.

Sunday's effort was led by the Save Our Wai group and was followed by a fundraising sausage sizzle with proceeds going towards court costs.

The volunteers, who started their clean up around Leisure Island at 9.30am, gathered around three large rubbish bags between them.

They separated out recyclable material, which was put into the recycling bins along the beach, Save Our Wai chairwoman Maureen O'Kane said.

O'Kane said it was great to see some families arriving at the beach clean-up on bikes.

"Our families in the Bay of Plenty were turning it into a great day out and teaching their kids about the importance of keeping our beaches and our waterways clean."

She said the group wanted all New Zealanders to have a say in large bottling consents, especially given the country's focus on reducing plastic.

Volunteer Cherie McLeod came along to the clean-up with her daughters - Sylvie, 6, and Lilah, 5.

Sylvie said people should not litter on the beach because it would pollute the planet, and Lilah said you should "pick it up" if you see it.

McLeod said she came along to the beach clean-up because she thought it was important to get involved with community events and to teach the children to look after the environment.

"I really wanted to come along to the Save Our Wai campaign because I think it's a really important thing that needs as much people-power as possible, and as much financial support as possible," she said.

"We just wanted to get behind it and make sure that people see that it's important to us."

Nada Piatek, another volunteer, said it was "really important" that the community knew what was happening with its resources.

Piatek also came to the clean-up with her children, who gathered a large rubbish sack of litter between the three of them.

Nine-year-old Mila said we should pick up litter on the beaches because "it's disgusting" and "not good for the environment".

Piatek said while she was not involved in the rubbish-gathering, she was talking to passers-by about the bottling plant case.