By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Keep Porirua Beautiful are pushing for better controls around rubbish and pollution entering the harbour, and want protecting the harbour to be one of the city?s highest priority. ?The Harbour is a major one for us, we have a lot of clean-ups of streams around Packn?Save, Whitireia park and, Porirua stream,? says Keep Porirua Beautiful coordinator John Poppleton. He says keeping the Harbour clean is one of the city?s biggest priorities, and there needs to be grills installed in streams near the city to stop rubbish flowing into the harbour. ?Porirua stream gets a lot of rubbish building up, and it would be beneficial to have something to collect the rubbish before it went into the harbour. ?The grill would need to be cleaned out on a regular basis,? he says. He says the idea has been discussed with the council and is ?in the system?. In conjunction with stopping rubbish, he sees the planting of native shrubs and trees along streams and rivers as imperative for cleaning up the harbour. ?There needs to be plenty of native trees around the foreshore, and we should look at ways of restoring sand dunes.? Keep Porirua Beautiful receive funding from Porirua City Council, which pays for Mr Poppleton?s three days of wages and an $800 membership to Keep NZ Beautiful. Hutt City and Wellington City councils? don?t pay the membership fee, but Mr Poppleton says the affiliation is worth it. ?The city centres? do their own things, but we are involved and keep in the loop most closely with Levin. ?The money is irrelevant really, [Keep NZ Beautiful] are not a volunteer organisation and it?s good to share ideas, information and knowledge,? he says. Keep Porirua Beautiful want people in the community to take ownership of their environments, but also become attached to a larger nation-wide movement promoting the protection our surroundings. ?We are all talking the same language, and that?s the benefit of being a part of larger projects like Clean-Up-NZ Week, which is driven by Keep NZ Beautiful.? He says the organisation is good because it connects local works to a larger message, one that has helped change mind-sets in the area. ?It?s good to think globally and share ideas, look at the skate park; now it doesn?t get tagged anymore and that?s part of it.? John Poppleton says above all, ?For us it?s about planting trees and picking up rubbish?. Keep Porirua Beautiful run the ?Tidiest Street? and ?Tidiest School? competitions and assist with the Clean Up NZ Week. ?We have well over 1,500 volunteers involved with our initiatives throughout the year, and we always want people to contact us with ideas,? he says.
