Their efforts topped the Canterbury entries in the national Reduce Your Rubbish campaign organised by the Ministry for the Environment. Ms Zviaginan was congratulated by Mayor Garry Moore, who helped promote the April to June campaign. She won $500 of supermarket vouchers from Woolworths and a washing machine from Fisher and Paykel. The national campaign tied in well with the City Council’s programmes to encourage people to think more about what they put into their black rubbish bags.

The campaign’s themes were that landfills are not giant compost heaps, that reducing rubbish begins at home and with householders making better choices at the supermarket and avoiding plastic bags where possible.