Papakura Spring Carnival

“At the Papakura Spring Carnival on Saturday 19th September 2009, 571 people were engaged with in discussion on litter prevention. BATK staff invited residents to wear a BATK tattoo, take a “No Circulars” sticker for their letterbox or take a BATK car tidy bag to prevent litter in their car. Tattoos were extremely popular with children. On applying the tattoo, the child was asked to peel off the backing paper and place it in the nearest street litter bin. Parents were very pleased to see Papakura District Council supporting the use of litterbins. The Carnival crowd seemed to be attending the event for a pleasant time and the BATK staff felt that they built on this expectation to make the event litter free. Residents were pleased to be offered merchandise. They sometimes asked for more than one car tidy bag or No Circulars sticker as they felt their friend or neighbour would appreciate one as well.”

Kelvin Road School

Papakura Council is meeting with children at Kelvin Road School over winter 2009 to pass on the Be A Tidy Kiwi message.

Council Project Manager For Waste Minimisation , Sue Martin is pictured here with some of the kids of Room 8. They are all fired up to prevent litter in their neighbourhood and loved putting a BATK tattoo on their arms and in some cases foreheads!

Dairies Campaign – Autumn 2009

Over 2500 people or 5% of the district’s population were encouraged to be Tidy Kiwis by using litter bins during a nine day campaign. Children and adults were approached by staff and offered a Be a Tidy Kiwi mint. The public unwrapped their mint and placed the wrapper in the litter bin. There was a lot of good will created in the community when people were rewarded for doing the "right thing". Project Manager for Waste minimisation at the Council, Sue Martin says "Using litter bins is easy, but some people forget how easy it is and drop their litter on the ground. Council spends $72,000 each year on collection of loose litter and Council would rather spend the money on more positive things in the community."

All 20 dairies in the District were scheduled in the campaign and dairy owners were encouraged that the community were using litter bins outside their shops.

Nearly 3000 mints, car tidy bags and stickers were given out over nine days and a lot of good will was created. A number of lessons were learnt in relation to future campaigns and the approach will be repeated when budgets allow.

Papakura Spring Carnival

Helen Clark and supporter

Litter prevention was promoted at the Papakura Spring Carnival on 27th September. Staff rewarded over 200 residents seen using litter bins by giving kids a BATK tattoo and adults were given BATK “No Commercial Circulars” stickers for their letter boxes or BATK car tidy bags. They were very appreciative for being thanked for using the litter bins in the town centre. On the other side of the coin, those dropping litter on the ground were given information on $100- $400 fines applicable and asked to place litter in the bin. The attached photo is one of the BATK social marketers who asked Helen Clark for a her support for the campaign.