Tinui residents collected more than 200 bags of rubbish from the roadside at the weekend. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
MARCUS ANSELM
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The leader of a successful clean-up campaign in Tinui has called on all Wairarapa residents to take pride in their province.
Businesswoman Lucinda Maunsell put the call out after getting fed up with the growing piles of litter and rubbish along the main road to Castlepoint.
Maunsell owns the Rahui Coastal Loop e-bike tour business which operates in the area.
On Saturday, a group of 20 combed the sides of the road for trash and filled more than 220 sacks in a four-hour spell.
The haul included items such as an old food processor and magnetic advertising signage.
Maunsell said people came from as far as Featherston to pitch in to help, and other residents had been inspired to tidy their own patch.
Undeterred by Sunday’s rising temperatures, some people carried on into Sunday afternoon.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me to approach the council to look at whether there could be a national day or just to clean up Wairarapa. I think we should start with Wairarapa and just take pride in our province so that when people drive through, they think “oh my god, there’s no rubbish here”.
The team also had help from Higgins Construction and Havendale Logging.
Chris Wise, director of Havendale Logging said: “It’s all of our responsibility to look after our environment, and [we’re] trying to show that as foresters, we too look at trying to make things like this positive.”
Maunsell said it would be easy for other communities to follow Tinui’s example.
“It doesn’t take much at all. All you need is a whole lot of seed sacks you want to get rid of, and a whole bunch of people who care.”
