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Skateboards, a bird bath, chairs, fishing rods, batteries, car and truck tyres, an oven, a surfboard, fishing knives and lures, and a dingy were just some of the items of rubbish fished out of Leigh Harbour on May 5.
There was also plenty of glass, beer cans and fishing line, general plastic and plastic bottles.
A team of volunteers, including 27 divers, 15 snorkellers/free divers and about 30 people on land, filled two packed cage trailers, plus a boat-load. The rubbish was delivered to Less Waste to sort and recycle.
“I think people were shocked about how much rubbish we found,” an organiser Tine Roland, of Goat Island Dive and Snorkel, said.
“Our aim was to clean up the coastal areas and underwater environments from the wharf and harbour, removing debris and waste that posed a threat to marine life and ecosystems,” she said.
“We wanted to change people’s minds about how we think of rubbish, so instead of loading it all on a truck and putting it all in landfill, Less Waste in Snells Beach donated a lot of bins so we could sort all the rubbish and recycle as much as possible.
“This also meant that the rubbish that we pulled out had to be washed before sorting.
“It was a big team effort, but it showed how much goes into recycling and how hard it is. Hopefully, people walked away thinking more about what they throw away and long it stays around.”
Goat Island Dive provided safety divers, and all equipment including scuba and snorkel gear, and skip bins.
Other local business were thanked for donating prizes that were awarded in various categories including largest piece of rubbish found (the dinghy), dirtiest child, youngest participant and weirdest piece of rubbish. The sponsors included Mares, SSI, Blue Ocean, Less Waste, Sculptureum, Glass Bottom Boat, Leigh Eats, Ti Point Reptile Park, Marine Deals, Sawmill Brewery, Whangateau Holiday Park, Clearyak and Warkworth New World.
Leigh Preschool also ran a fundraising sausage sizzle.
Roland said similar clean-ups were likely to be organised in future, targeting other wharves such as Ti Point.
