The mysterious flight of the bins at West Wind
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
The Makara hills have two rubbish bins, thanks to Ted Smith. When ?West Wind? was first proposed he agreed with developers notions that ?much of Makara hills were desolate and run-down?. ?I had to agree with it, there was rubbish accumulated everywhere, so I decided to do something about it. ?while in the US I saw the ?Adopt a Mile? scheme, where schools take charge of a part of the motor-way, plant it up and keep the rubbish off it,? he says. Bringing the idea home had mixed success, so he decided to install rubbish bins around the area. The most common waste he picks up is coffee cups, fast food wrappings, and drink bottles. ?I decided to put my own rubbish bins up there [on Makara Hill].? Over the following years he put in seven bins that would ?mysteriously disappear? after being installed. ?We found out who it was, and told them we would only install the one bin, so I won that battle,? says Mr Smith. Nevertheless, the area now has two bins and the second one has also endured some Houdini acts. Mr Smith has initiated many clean-up movements in the area and regularly picks up trash from the top of Makara Hill down to the beach, an 11km stretch. One of the chief engineers at the Manapouri hydro-project, he says the American style of productivity was a key basis for his uninhibited energy. ?They are hard drivers of workers for productivity and performance. ?They kept throwing tricky problems at me,? says Mr Smith. His two boys inherited a similar drive and are professors at overseas universities, one of whom worked on the mars project for NASA. Mr Smith does the clean-up jobs off his own bat almost every week, and has just planted a few hundred trees around the area. ?Each year the Council gives me 300-350 trees to plant,? he says. Mr Smith was a Wellington Hockey Rep until 36 and has never experienced illness by being a figure of health. ?Individuals need to look after their health, moderation in all things,? he says. He hopes to open ?West Wind? up for more walkers to enjoy, and says the closure of the park is ?overkill, and mainly for security reasons to stop sabotage?. Makara-Ohariu Community Board is also looking into the opening of the southwest of Quartz Hill for public access, and Mr Smith says Meridian is ?considering making the whole headland a reserve?. Mr Smith is currently busy planting trees around a small waterfall about half a kilometre inland from Makara Beach.
