3 Oct 2023 Congratulations to this month’s Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month, Cantabrian Maria Lamb! Maria is a regular around Christchurch, sharing her passion for the environment and educating people about their own waste streams. No stranger to keeping Canterbury beautiful, having won awards in the past, Maria continues to step up her game for the environment. Recently involved in managing several Christchurch Clean Up Week events including one in St Albans, and having been a key part of the ‘Mother of All Clean Ups’ earlier in the year, she’s also hands-on with tree plantings in the region. Maria is a keen plogger who goes out of her way to collect and document litter she finds on her jogs. She’s set up a collection and recycling centre for bottle tops, beer lids, can tabs, jar lids and chip packets (and soon to be batteries too), to get those small and often overlooked plastics and metals out of the environment and into a second life. In fact, the scheme has diverted hundreds of kilograms of metals from landfill already! About collecting litter, she said, “I was once that person years ago who thought, ‘it’s simply too overwhelming and too hard’ — but that was the Old Me. Now? I’m unstoppable!” Maria is also a keen fundraiser, having raised a significant sum for Keep New Zealand Beautiful through her participation in a eco action-adventure show — we look forward to showcasing her adventures when the latest series is released! She says, “Aotearoa is a country that I’m proud to call home. Love where you live and protect your surrounds — Kaitiakitanga.” Whakamihi – congratulations! As this month’s Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month, Maria 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
