We love Oakura Bay, the surrounding coastline and our community. We want to keep our environment pristine for everyone to enjoy. It is important to remember that when we drop litter or leave rubbish lying around, the wind will carry it out to sea or it will find its way along a waterway. Plastic such as food wrappers, drink bottles/caps, plastic bags and fishing line form the bulk of rubbish and because they do not biodegrade, they tend to remain in the ocean for a very long time. Once in the sea, our rubbish is harmful to all marine mammals and seabirds.

We all need to take care that any rubbish we are in possession of does not make its way into the ocean – whether we are on land or out on the water. Please help us to keep our bay and coastline litter-free. Either take your rubbish home with you or place it in the Council provided rubbish bins.

Collection for household rubbish and recycling is undertaken by Whangarei District Council (WDC) contractors every Monday. Additional collection times are provided over the busy summer months. To enable collection, please ensure household rubbish is placed in the official Council rubbish bag, or any other approved bag that has an official rubbish sticker attached. Official bags and stickers are sold at most dairies, service stations and supermarkets. Please consider putting your household rubbish out as close to the collection time as possible to minimise the bags being ripped open, particularly by seagulls, and the contents strewn around the area.

The WDC also provides each household with two bins for recycling – one red and one blue. The blue bin is for clean, unbroken glass bottles and jars and the red bin is for type 1, 2 and 5 plastics only, along with tins and cans. Cardboard and paper for collection can be placed in a bag or small cardboard box beside the bins. To ensure collection, please make sure you follow the correct procedure for recycling. For more information on recycling, click here.