Press Release – Be A Tidy Kiwi

Thursday 31 October 2019

The winners of a national “BINfrastructure” competition were announced today. Nine schools from Canterbury to Northland have each won a specially designed set of bins for their innovative video pledges to Put Litter in its Place which they shared with their whanau and friends on social media.

The winning schools are:
School Location Age Range
Ellesmere College Leeston, Christchurch Years 7-13
Hay Park School Mt Roskill, Auckland Years 1-6
Hutt Central School Lower Hutt Years 1-6
Kio Kio School Otorohanga Years 0-8
Napier Intermediate Napier Years 7-8
Orewa College Orewa, North Auckland Years 7-13
Puketapu School New Plymouth Years 0-8
Pukekohe Hill School Pukekohe, South Auckland Years 7-13
Te Kura Taumata o Panguru

Panguru, Northland Years 1-13
“Thousands of Kiwis have made the Be A Tidy Kiwi pledge in 2019, and we’ve seen increasing commitments from young people as they are no longer prepared to sit by and watch us trash our country.” Richard Leckinger, BATK Programme Manager said. “The reason we ask for a public pledge to ‘put litter in its place’ is simple; the science says pledges work to change behaviour.”

The competition is just one part of a partnership between The Packaging Forum which promotes the Government’s Love NZ brand and Be A Tidy Kiwi which together have been trialling innovative smart BINfrastructure across the country over the last 3 years. This has been backed by a nationwide campaign delivered on TV, radio and social media www.bandtogether.co.nz.

“Our BINfrastructure trials in towns around New Zealand have proven to also reduce contamination, so we are delighted to get these designs into schools who otherwise couldn’t afford them. We know it’s important to have strategically positioned colour coded bins which allow people to dispose of their rubbish.”

“Three years of campaigning, three years of litter counts and three years of trialling smart BINfrastructure have paid off and we’re seeing a measurable decrease in litter and a measurable increase in recycling performance. It’s a win,” Mr Leckinger said.

Lyn Mayes, Litter Project Manager for The Packaging Forum says that the colours and clear signage are effective.

“In the past, bins have been chosen to blend in with the streetscape, when what we have needed are eye-catching bins that use nationally agreed recycling and waste colours. Eighteen councils have now adopted the new style bins in a move towards national consistency. We’ve introduced this moveable “bin-frame” as a more cost- effective and practical solution for schools. The bin-frame locks the wheelie bins in place and each school can choose the type of materials which they want to collect.”

“We have also developed best practice guidelines for design and installation to help organisations tackle litter and reduce costs using smart technology and national consistency.”

The three-year $2.4 million “Litter Less Recycle More” project has received $1.72 million funding from The Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund to support investment in infrastructure and a national awareness campaign.

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Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
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