One man is on a mission to keep Te Puke beautiful, but he can’t do it on his own.

Te Puke is the latest community to be welcomed into the Keep New Zealand Beautiful family, and so far that welcome is down to one man, Craig Wallace.

The official Keep Te Puke Beautiful group was one of more than 50 across the country that forms a network of passionate community-led environmental groups.

Wallace’s journey started with picking up a few stray pieces of rubbish near his home, but with a fast-food outlet, a high school and a cricket field nearby, he quickly realised the scale of the issue

“In September or October last year I just went outside onto the front lawn and someone had dropped something on the front verge, so I just picked it up and didn’t think much of it.

“The next day I went out and just across the road it was a similar thing and from there, I probably just started noticing it more.”

Walking around nearby streets and parks, he began picking up litter and started taking a shopping bag with him. Over a 15-hour period, he collected enough discarded cans to fill a 240-litre recycling bin.

“Once you see it, you can’t unsee it,” he said. “It’s really just gone from there.”

A time to act

He admitted to a touch of impatience and once he decided to do something about cleaning up the area, he was out a couple of evenings a week and at weekends.

He sought out the Keep New Zealand Beautiful website and discovered what other groups in New Zealand were doing.

Wallace was contacted by Keep New Zealand Beautiful’s national support manager, Wayne Gazley.Gazley visited Wallace and brought some equipment and branded caps and shirts.

Now Wallace wants to make sure his is a team of more than one – and to form a group that will make regular sweeps of the area collecting rubbish.Another idea is to have groups or individuals adopt a street, area or park and make it their mission to keep it tidy.

Wallace is talking to EPIC Te Puke, which organises an annual town clean-up to coincide with Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week in September, and Te Puke Community Board about his ideas.

Inspiring commitment

Gazley said Wallace’s commitment was inspiring and reflects the grassroots spirit of the organisation.

“Communities like Te Puke are at the heart of what we do at Keep New Zealand Beautiful,” he said.

“Craig’s initiative is proof that one person’s passion can spark real change, and we’re thrilled to support his efforts in creating a cleaner, greener Te Puke.”

Gazley said the organisation’s intention is to have voluntary community groups and someone who leads them in each area.

“In future, rather than EPIC having to come asking Keep New Zealand Beautiful [for resources], they can go and talk to Craig directly and he will either have the gear here or he will organise to have it here. He’s a sort of Johnny on the spot.”

Support was also available should Wallace wish to talk to council, community boards, businesses or community groups wanting to do litter pickups.

“If Craig needs support a large, organised clean-up in Te Puke or anywhere else – it doesn’t matter where – he could give me a shout and I could help him with whatever it takes.”

When Wallace approached Keep New Zealand Beautiful, he was sick of all the cans and the litter around and was keen to set something up.

“To be fair, he could do what he’s doing on his own, there’s no reason why he can’t go round and pick up litter, but just getting the support from Keep New Zealand Beautiful gives it a bit more clout,” said Gazley.

Any other people who want to do a clean-up in Te Puke can also approach Wallace for help or to find out where the areas of most need might be.

Anyone wanting to help out can contact Wallace by email at keeptepukebeautiful@gmail.com.