Rubbish walks that make you feel good

Friday, 6 September 2019

Take a reusable foldaway bag on walks and get the kids involved in picking up rubbish too.

OPINION: Don’t wait for the next annual beach clean-up to do your bit for the environment - next time you’re out for a walk, pick up rubbish along the way.

The world has a rubbish problem being caused by millions of tonnes of discarded plastic. Plastic that finds its way into our waterways, onto our beaches, and it’s killing our marine wildlife.

By now you may have heard of the growing global trend of ‘plogging’. Originating from Sweden, it involves people picking up rubbish while out for a jog. It’s not just for runners, but something walkers can do too.

Wellington is a great city of walkers. Visit Oriental Bay or one of our coastal suburbs in the weekend and you’ll see a variety of pavement-pounders, beach strollers, dog walkers and buggy pushers.

Plastic has become a pervasive material and it’s invading our coastline and beaches.

* Teen's bid to clean Rarangi Beach during Massive Marlborough Clean Up

* Images show how mega $500m Wellington Shelly Bay development could look

Plastic finds following a recent beach clean-up along Wellington’s south coast.

* Regular walks include caring for environment**

Now, just imagine the positive impact if every one of these walkers picked up some rubbish along the way.

Ideally there’d be no rubbish on our beaches, but sadly that is not the case. At a Plastic Free Peninsula beach clean-up this year, ploggers of all ages returned with collections of rubbish dominated by plastic pieces, straws, lollipop sticks, food wrappers, bottle lids and polystyrene.

As of 2010, an estimated 11.1 billion items of plastic are thought to be in the Asia-Pacific region alone and this is expected to increase to 15.7 billion by 2025.

We can all do our bit for the environment by supporting organised events and we can also make rubbish collection a part of our daily lives.

It’s never too late to create a new habit; It could be picking up one piece of rubbish on each walk or taking a reusable foldaway bag to fill each time. Pick up whatever you feel comfortable with and if you’re dedicating part of your walk to picking up rubbish, take gloves and hand sanitiser.

This simple action, along with reducing plastic use, is an easy and free way to help keep plastics from entering our marine environments and it’s something people of all ages can do.

So, the next time you’re out for a walk, pick up one piece of rubbish.

While you are doing something good for your mind and body, you’ll be doing something good for the environment too.