Woman on a mission Neighbourhood champion

WOMAN ON A

MISSION

Fed up with seeing rubbish on the side of the road in her neighbourhood, Summerset at Aotea resident Shona Bowman decided to do something about it. These days, the keen environmentalist has lost track of how much litter she’s recycled, and she wants to inspire younger generations to be kinder to the planet.

With her rubbish bags and trusty ‘picker upper’ tool, Shona is often recognised by Porirua locals. She heads out at least twice a week, for two to three hours at a time, to remove rubbish from kerbs and collect cans to take to the local recycling centre. While it’s not exactly glamorous, Shona says the reward is knowing she’s making a difference, to both the environment and her community. And judging by the response she gets from passing motorists, her efforts don’t go unnoticed.

“People will wave out and say something encouraging, and that’s really satisfying,” she says. “I’ve been given boxes of chocolates from people driving past, and someone has even stopped to give me a $50 Prezzy card!”

When it comes to ridding the streets of rubbish, it’s a never-ending job. Shona says plastic bottles, cigarette butts and polystyrene beads are among the most common offenders, while the dirty nappies and discarded dog poo bags can make the clean-up a grim task.

“Other people might think I’m bananas, but if I didn’t feel so strongly about it, I wouldn’t do it. I hate seeing mess on the side of the road that people have chucked out of car windows, and a lot of it gets into the drains and ends up in the sea. We need to look after our world a bit better.”

Shona takes aluminium cans, plastic bottles and anything that can be recycled back home with her, where she gives each item a thorough wash. She then stores the bottles and cans in her garage until she has a big enough collection to take to the recycling centre. Recently, she offloaded 27kg worth of

SHONA RECENTLY OFFLOADED 27KG WORTH OF ALUMINIUM CANS

Shona Bowman works hard to keep her neighbourhood tidy.

aluminium cans, and any money from the recycling goes towards projects at her church.

“We have a double garage, but because of all the cans there’s never enough room in there for two cars! I used to get $1.50 per kilo from recycling cans but recently it’s dropped to $1.20 a kilo. But it’s not about the money. I think we should all be more environmentally friendly. I don’t think people realise the extent of the problem.”

Shona, who says her regular rubbish-collecting missions certainly keep her fit, believes education is the key to building on eco-friendly habits. She herself started by asking questions at her local recycling centre, reading up on tips and simply giving new things, like composting, a try. And while most of us want to do the right thing when it comes to disposing of rubbish, Shona says it’s the younger generations that have the most power to make change.

“The young ones are who we need to focus on now, and the children are interested in environmental issues. I volunteer at the local school, and I’ve also taught our two grandchildren all about it! Lots of the kids from the schools see me out collecting rubbish, and I think that helps to educate them too, seeing someone taking action.”