You wouldn’t trash your mate’s place – so why trash our Bowl?
Four concerts at TSB Bowl of Brooklands this summer generated 12,000kg of waste, writes.
How many times have you been to a barbecue at a mate’s place and just chucked your rubbish on the lawn? Balled-up your tomato-sauce smeared serviette and dropped it at your feet or biffed it over your shoulder?
Taken your paper plate and tried to frisbee it between the rhodo and the letterbox?
Chances are most of us haven’t – and if we’re extra nice, we might’ve even offered to do the dishes.
So why just dump and run when we’re out and enjoying ourselves at New Zealand’s premier outdoor venue?
Our summer of events at the Bowl of Brooklands was an absolute standout. We had four magnificent shows that packed-in the public: LAB kicked us off in early January, followed by the light and sound of Synthony and the rocking good time of Six60, to be rounded off with a 10,000-person singalong with Crowded House.
But what also stood out was the amount of rubbish people left behind. From these four concerts, we created more than 12,000 kilograms of waste.
As a council and venue operator we’d planned for this. As part of New Plymouth District Council’s Zero Waste efforts, we set up a comprehensive recycling system that ranged from ensuring the Bowl’s vendors used only recyclable materials (glass, cardboard, etc) to having trained volunteers to help concertgoers put containers in the right bin.
We also had volunteers picking up
the large amount of litter left across the Bowl’s otherwise pristine green lawn.
As a result, we diverted 92 per cent of that public waste into recycling – only 900kg of the 12,000kg of waste ended up going to the landfill.
What’s puzzling is that people are generally pretty thoughtful about their waste in their own homes or when visiting friends – but for too many, that thoughtfulness goes out the window when they’re in public places.
We’ve put a lot of time and effort into rethinking Zero Waste systems; now we’re encouraging people to rethink their attitude toward waste responsibility when they’re out and about.
There are some places that we know instinctively should be entirely clear of litter – such as Taranaki Maunga, which guards our backs; our rivers and streams, where we swim or draw our drinking water from; and coastlines, where rubbish can blow into the sea and choke and kill marine
life. Let’s build on those instincts and protect all of our public places from litter – roadsides, parks, skateparks, walkways, stadiums and beaches.
Whether we are taking our own snacks or buying food and drink while we are out and about, the leftover wrappings and containers should go into public bins or be taken home for disposal/recycling.
And just like when we are at a friend’s barbecue, we can help out by tidying up any litter we see.
We are the kaitiaki of this place, our home, Taranaki – all of us.
It is not up to ‘‘others’’ to pick up after each of us – we can do that ourselves.
We live in a beautiful, green district where the landscape is a big part of our leisure and entertainment; in many ways, it is an extension of our own back gardens.
We can treat it with the respect it deserves.