Teens remove 25kgs of garbage from polluted Oakley Creek

Ripu Bhatia Reporter from Community News

Youth in central Auckland have taken it upon themselves to clean up rubbish in the polluted Oakley Creek.

Eight teenagers cleared out 25 kilograms of rubbish in under an hour on August 9.

Salvation Army youth worker Raymond Tuala, 22, said the group is predominantly Māori, a culture that considers rivers important.

“When I asked the teens what they wanted to do, one of the things that came up was the pollution and rubbish in their local river,” he said.

“They did a pretty good job all around with the clean up.”

The teens are from Mt Roskill, Mt Albert and Lynfield in central Auckland.

In 2019, the creek was slapped with a public health warning after testing revealed high levels of faecal matter in the water.

Gumboots and gloves were worn as a safety measure during the clean up.

Tuala said he hopes to take the group out to clean the lake once a week when lockdown laws have relaxed.

“The young people were loving it,” he said.

“We’re hoping to spread awareness about how much pollution is actually going into the river.”