3 Nov 2023Congratulations to this month’s Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month, Charlotte Mundell! Even since the Te Atatu resident came across a pile of litter with her kids while out on a walk, she’s committed to action. Charlotte, who is the Content and Programme Manager with local business Go Well Consulting — a firm that works to evolve other businesses for a sustainable future — has also been running a local community clean up alongside the Earth Action Trust. She has completed three clean ups in 2023, collecting a whopping 734kg of waste so far. She’s aiming to collect a solid tonne with the upcoming November clean up! Charlotte says, “The aim of the clean ups is primarily for our community to come together and take responsibility for the state of our suburb. We have loads of children involved who are beginning to understand what is wrong with seeing plastics on our shoreline and through our bush and reserves, and what impact that can have on our biodiversity and waterways. The education piece is another core focus of the clean ups.” “The need for clean ups has always been there but with the development in the area, we were finding an increase in building related waste on our walks to school — which was just such a dampener on what should be a nice way to start the day!” Unfortunately, volunteers have encountered large amounts of illegal dumping, forcing that to be the focus of the past two clean ups. Given that the Te Atatu Peninsula has a significant wetland area with lots of native fernbirds choosing this as their place to nest and live, their next planned clean up is around the Harbourview Park area — a large marshy area facing the city. They’ll cautiously avoid nesting fernbirds and protect their habitat from unnecessary, unnatural litter and waste. Whakamihi – congratulations! As this month’s Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month, Charlotte will receive a Keep New Zealand Beautiful merchandise pack and a Resene paint voucher for any beautification efforts, as well as being entered into the 2024 Beautiful Awards. Know someone keeping New Zealand beautiful? Simply nominate them to become a Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month here. Share this page
