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Source: ONE News -
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Environmentalists are calling on Aucklanders to clean up their act after they gathered what is believed to be thousands of litres of rubbish from a nearby island.
The rubbish was shipped back from Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf to the city on Wednesday morning.
Coffee cups, Auckland city parking tickets, soft drink bottles and Tupperware were among the junk.
Sam Judd from Sustainable Coastlines says there is a constant steam coming from the stormdrains of the city.
"It washes into the stormdrains when it rains, then it flows out and the southwest wind just takes it straight out and it hits all the islands in the Hauraki Gulf," he says.
A thousand volunteers collected the rubbish last week.
There was 29,000 litres of rubbish altogether, enough to fill the average backyard swimming pool.
Judd says he is sure the rubbish is coming from Auckland.
"Every beach on Great Barrier Island that faces the city is covered in rubbish. The other beaches that face a different angle are not," says Judd.
Auckland regional councillor Joel Cayford viewed the rubbish and has a clear message for Aucklanders.
"The sea should not be seen as a dump. Every one of these things is here because someone, somewhere, threw it away. They didn't dispose of it safely, and that has to stop.
The rubbish has now been trucked off to an Auckland tip.
