ON WATER
GARBAGE GATHERER
BY KEITH INGRAM
The launch of Phil Warren II on May
13 in Auckland follows on the heels of
the Watercare Harbour Clean-Up Trust
celebration of 10 years of improving the
health of the Waitemata Harbour and
Auckland's waterways.
E
stablished December 6, 2002, the Trust works all year round
to remove rubbish from Auckland's Waitemata Harbour
and inner Hauraki Gulf islands. The Trust employs two
contractors to crew the Phil Warren, a small boat used for
scooping up plastic bottles, food wrappers, tyres and other trash
from the city's waterways. The crew also removes rubbish from
the shorelines and beaches of Auckland, as well as in estuaries
and mangrove areas, using sea kayaks and a flat-bottomed punt.
The Trust is sponsored principally by Watercare Services
Limited, which has enabled the Trust to remove a staggering
3,135,000 litres of litter from the Waitemata Harbour since
the Trust was established. The harbour clean-up crew led by
Hayden Smith has collected over 24 million individual pieces
of litter from Auckland waterways, based on an average of eight
individual pieces of trash per litre.
These are astonishing numbers, when one considers that most
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Professional Skipper
July/August 2013
of this trash comes from the land and enters our waterways
via Auckland's storm water system and local streams. It is
disgusting to see just what is recovered by this team, especially
since we have opened up Auckland's waterfront to the public,
creating bars and cafes. One only has to sit and watch as many
inconsiderate people discard wrappers, cigarette butts, disposable
coffee cups or drink containers, including our fashionable water
bottles, with a distasteful flick of the wrist. Even when a bin is in
sight, frequent misses are never recovered, meaning this rubbish
can only end in one place – and that's our waterways.
Over a decade ago, Watercare Services made the decision
to offer its support to the Harbour Clean-Up Trust and can be
immensely proud of what the Trust has achieved during the
course of the past 11 years.
"Maintaining healthy waterways and contributing to the
sustainability of Auckland's natural environment are core
aspects of Watercare's role in our community," says wastewater
operations manager Mark Bourne. "Clearly, there is a link
between the company's activities and the work being done
by the Watercare Harbour Clean-Up Trust and as such have
committed to continue to provide assistance to the Trust now
and in the future."
However, the work of the Trust goes beyond Auckland's
waterways; raising awareness of marine litter issues at schools
and through community groups and making a real difference to
the environment is all part of the education process at the source
of the problem – changing the attitudes of people to their rubbish
and the environment.
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