Buckets of trash in cleanup

Tyres, rope, jandals and even a dead sea bird with fishing line wrapped around its neck were among the huge haul of waste picked up behind Mt Maunganui yesterday.

More than 200kg of rubbish was picked up at Pilot Bay in an hour.

Put on by Dive Zone Tauranga and EnviroHub, the cleanup involved more than 60 volunteer divers and beach-cleaners in water and on land.

Divers were equipped with fluoro catch bags and three safety boats were nearby to collect the rubbish.

Within 10 minutes of the divers entering the water, catch bags were filling up, with one diver even bringing up a rusty old anchor.

Event organiser Liz Plank of Dive Zone said the purpose of the event really hit home when divers found a dead sea bird in the water with fishing line wrapped around its neck.

She said it was a prime example of why they were out there doing it.

Back on the shores, volunteer beach-cleaner Gaylene Sharp had already filled a whole bucket of rubbish within one hour of searching.

She said there was a huge number of cigarette butts in her bucket.

Envirohub manager Laura Wagg said many volunteers of all ages helped to clean up. One man filled four buckets in one hour, she said.

Cigarettes, broken glass and loads of bottle tops were the main items found, with the team filling several very large buckets.