Residents Wake to Rubbish Art

Hastings, Flaxmere and Havelock North residents woke to find large “art installations” had mysteriously popped up in their neighbourhoods this morning (Monday, Sept 1).

Far from beautiful, the art is an ugly reminder that we can all Keep Hastings Beautiful by not dropping litter.

Empty skips near Hastings’ Clock Tower, a massive skip at the Flaxmere Shopping Centre and a car wreck in Havelock North’s village centre represent the volume of litter which is dropped on the streets of each centre.

* Hastings, on a normal day, creates six to seven black rubbish bags of litter but during peak times will create around 12 black rubbish bags a day – that would fill Windsor Park’s 25m pool in just over two years.
* Flaxmere, on a normal week, generates about 44 black rubbish bags of litter and during peak times can nearly fill a shipping container - which in six months would fill Flaxmere Waterworld’s main pool.
* Havelock North, on an normal week, creates approximately 21 black rubbish bags of litter and over a busy weekend can create as much as a carload in the CBD alone – so on normal volumes it would take just over a year-and-a-half to fill the dive pool at Havelock North’s Village Pool complex.

The combined monthly litter volume for Hastings, Havelock North and Flaxmere is around 100 cubic metres.

Environment Enhancement Officer, Jacqui Barnes, says at that rate it would take just ten months to fill the Frimley Aquatic Centre’s 50m pool and at peak time volumes that would escalated to just three-and-a-half months.

“And that’s just rubbish people drop on the street, not rubbish collected from public bins or weekly kerb-side collection,” Jacqui says.

“It costs Hastings ratepayers an estimated $547,768 a year to collect litter in Hastings, Havelock North and Flaxmere based on normal litter volumes – a cost which could easily be reduced or even avoided if people put their rubbish in public bins or took it home.”

“Hastings District Council staff are doing such a great job at getting out early and picking up litter that most people don’t realise the extent of the problem.”

That figure includes 360 hours staff time a week, vehicles, transfer station fees and rubbish bag costs, and doesn’t include the $365,000 it costs for street cleaners.

“If roughly a quarter of the district’s population picked up two pieces of litter each, that would be 30,000 pieces of litter removed from our streets a day.”

Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week starts next Friday and Keep Hastings Beautiful Trust has decided to build on that, naming September Keep Hastings Beautiful month.

The confronting art installations kick off a month of events, including:

· September 5 – 12: National Keep NZ Beautiful Clean Up Week & Graffiti Free Week. Hastings students are being asked to do their bit to drive the “clean up after yourself” message by holding events at school.

· Saturday, September 6: Community groups are called on to Community Art Day, a fun day where the abutments of Chesterhope Bridge get a creative paint job.

· Saturday, September 13: Come to the Hastings Blossom Parade and see the Hastings Youth Council dressed as …well you’ll have to come and see… giving away sweet treats alongside the city’s four litter buggies and the “paint-out” van.

· September 22 – 28: Keep Hastings Beautiful Appeal Week: Businesses which are regularly supported by the Keep Hastings Beautiful paint out van will become collection points for donations to the trust, ensuring the fight against littering and graffiti in Hastings continues.