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Our Work
Trash Free Taiaotea
Trash Free Taiaotea brings local residents and businesses together to help reduce the amount of waste going to landfill in the Browns Bay - Taiaotea catchment. This project builds on the positive energy and groundwork underway in the area to care for the local environment and reduce waste to landfill. The Trash Free Taiaotea project is supported by a steering group consisting of local residents, local business representatives and mataawaka/Māori residents.
Our programme involves working with local businesses to support them to reduce their waste, encouraging the use of food scraps collection services in partnership with Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste, an awards event to recognise waste champions and businesses, and integration with catchment restoration activities including Restore Hibiscus and Bays.
Future years will focus on growing the uptake of zero waste practices in businesses and communities while generating a brand for Browns Bay - Taiaotea that focuses on being a zero waste destination.
Learning Outside the Classroom
We work with schools to offer students "learning outside the classroom" opportunities. We aim to take an authentic student-led enquiry approach as our job is to empower students to take action. Our kaupapa is to work with students to co-design learning programmes outside the classroom that can deliver on their local curriculum.
In partnership with Barefooted NZ, we have empowered students with hands-on skills in the traditional and contemporary use of natural materials, environmental restoration techniques, outdoor cooking and nature-based play. We have also facilitated the enhancement of school environments through the planting of green spaces that include pa harakeke, rongoā gardens, tree avenues, and natural play spaces.
Eco-Neighbourhoods
Do you want to be more environmentally sustainable and get to know your neighbours at the same time? Then Eco-Neighbourhoods is for you. The project connects like-minded neighbours across local suburbs, so you can find fun ways to make a real difference. You get supported to think globally while acting locally.
It’s an opportunity for people to learn different ways to live lightly - you could learn how to grow and buy local food, keep chickens, improve your home’s energy efficiency, set up pest control in your hood, minimise waste, harvest rain water or composting. Groups are supported by a community facilitator and there is funding so that you can try out what interests you to make a difference in your neighbourhood. Join the Eco-Neighbourhood journey and check us out online Auckland Climate Action
King Tides Initiative
The Auckland King Tides Initiative is a 'citizen science' programme that invites the public to capture the visual impact of king tides at their own local coastal environments as a means of understanding the potential impacts of sea level rise in the next 30-50 years.
We have been co-designing and delivering community workshops in 2021 with Murrays Bay Intermediate students/staff supporting the construction and installation of a water level (tidal) gauge at Murrays Bays wharf that can be monitored by local communities. This complements our existing tide gauges at Orewa Estuary and Long Bay Regional Park.
Contact kingtides@kingtides.org.nzor check us out online auckland.kingtides.org.nz
Volunteer Taiaotea
We have been restoring streamside margins, coastal dunes & forests and other green spaces since 2015 with the support of an amazing group of volunteers. We now partner with Restore Hibiscus & Bays to deliver on landscape-scale restoration goals, with the Taiaotea - Rothesay Bay valley being recognised as a priority catchment.
This has involved collaborating with the Sustainable Business Network’s Million Metres initiative to facilitate crowdfunding for habitat restoration along the riparian zones of this catchment area.
