A woman from Wellington has taken her beach cleaning mission to a new level. Last August, Melissa Lieser achieved her goal of removing 1000kg of trash from beaches. Now, she has set a new challenge for herself – to clean the entire coastline of Wellington. Over the next few weeks, she plans to walk 33km to clean every beach from Ōwhiro Bay to Oriental Bay.
Lieser started her cleaning initiative, ‘Clean Where You Walk’, in 2018 while she was living in the United States. She was inspired to start cleaning up her neighborhood after noticing how dirty it was while walking her kids to school. She documented her efforts on her Instagram account, which has since gained thousands of followers.
When Lieser moved to Wellington, she decided to focus her efforts on the city’s beaches, cleaning them once or twice a week for the past five years. According to Sustainable Coastlines, a charity that monitors litter in New Zealand, Wellington has more litter than any other region in the country.
Josh Borthwick, the CEO of Sustainable Coastlines, praised Lieser’s efforts. He said her work not only helps clean the beaches but also raises awareness about the amount of trash that ends up in the ocean. The data collected by Sustainable Coastlines is used by the government to make policy decisions, including recent bans on certain types of plastic.
After she completes her current goal, Lieser has one more – to not have to do it again.
