Keep New Zealand Beautiful partners with Waste Management New Zealand to send educational book to New Zealand schools

New Zealand not-for-profit organisation, Keep New Zealand Beautiful, has teamed up with Waste Management to distribute an educational storybook to every kindergarten, primary and intermediate school in New Zealand.

The book, titled Kiki Kiwi & Friends: The Travelling Trash, formed part of the Kiki Kiwi Litter Less education programme which Keep New Zealand Beautiful developed in line with the New Zealand curriculum and aims to educate and encourage children (aged 5-11 years) about the importance of putting litter in the bin, and to understand just because you throw something away, it does not mean it actually goes away. A teacher’s resource kit for this programme was provided to all primary and intermediate schools in New Zealand in Term 3 2018.

With the help of Waste Management, Keep New Zealand Beautiful has been able to repurpose the spiral bound A3 Kiki Kiwi & Friends: The Travelling Trash book from the resource kit as a children’s softcover storybook, making it more accessible to children throughout New Zealand.

Kiki Kiwi & Friends: The Travelling Trash is an educational story which follows Kiki Kiwi and his friends as they aim to ‘Do The Right Thing’ to keep their community clean and prevent litter from entering waterways.

The book was officially launched at Waste Management’s new Auckland headquarters on East Tamaki Road, with students from Ormiston Primary School attending to meet Kiki Kiwi, learn about waste management and hear the book’s first reading.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson says, “Education, information, and training are proactive measures required to prevent the creation of litter and to achieve long-term positive behavioural change. We’re excited to expand the Litter Less resource in a different medium to educate the next generation of Kiwis and to help us to achieve this mission.”

Waste Management NZ Managing Director Tom Nickels says one of Waste Management’s goals is to invest in local communities and raise awareness of how waste and environmental services work in New Zealand. “We are very pleased to be able to share the story of waste with our young people and reinforce the message that caring for our environment is everyone’s responsibility.”

The Kiki Kiwi book will also be available to purchase via the Keep New Zealand Beautiful website – www.knzb.org.nz

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