Do you remember the Tidy Kiwi? It was one of those advertising ideas that, like a certain toothpaste ad of years gone by, "really did get in".

The Tidy Kiwi was a good kiwi that made sure it never left any litter lying around to mess up the nest. It was a great idea for a less littered time, and an idea that I think needs to be revived. The really great thing about the Tidy Kiwi was that it did not waste time waiting for someone else to fix things. It just got on with it. Wherever it saw any litter that threatened to mess up the nest, the Tidy Kiwi that took charge of its own destiny and took action.

A while ago I found myself on a radio show saying that it was time we all again took up the Tidy Kiwi idea.

As a city, and as a nation, we all need to take a hard look at just what we do, and don't do, to add to the litter problem. We have become much more of a consumer nation and as part of that change we've also become a culture that features more packaging and potential waste from our consumer actions.

One of the best ways we can all start to move toward cutting down our own litter contribution is to take responsibility for it.

I say "start to move toward cutting down our litter contribution" because I am absolutely convinced that we will not produce major change by lecturing and finger-pointing.

As a city, as a nation, we all need to find ways to make our lives more sustainable and cut down on pollution and waste. When you can harness the enormous amounts of public goodwill for this you can start to get stunning results.

Just look at the way kerbside recycling has gone; from a fringe idea 20 years ago into the mainstream of Christchurch life, to the point that between 70 and 80 per cent of all our households are putting out their bins each week.

That's a massive vote for conservation, a vote any politician would be delighted to get.

We have got that great result though persuasion and education.

With all the environmental issues we face we need to be patient and humble enough to acknowledge that, without the active support of the public, we will not get very far.

At the same time we also need to realise that Christchurch's growing litter problem needs to be turned around if we are not to start ruining the very quality of life so many of us value so highly. It is also a bit like the dog poo problem was a few years ago. Increasing amounts led to ill will between dog owners and the rest of the community. But now, with education and persuasion, many dog owners are taking along their own gdoggy bagsh to deal with this problem. They have taken on an extra level of responsibility and we are all the better for their having done so. We need to get similar results with our litter problem.

Litter is not a cheap problem for our community. As a city we are spending about $278,000 a year at present to pick up and clean up the spillages, broken glass and litter on our streets. This figure does not include street sweeping, nor the specialised machine that we use to remove chewing gum from central-city streets. Not so long ago we used to just have to pick up litter mainly from the major roads leading to the metro refuse stations. Now we are having to regularly clean up over 60 suburban Christchurch streets to deal with the upsurge in street litter. The discarded waste from people's individual consumer experiences is leaving us all with an increasingly expensive, and unsightly, collective problem.

The first step in turning back this tide of debris and dirt has to be a series of individual decisions to again become tidy kiwis.

Don't leave the problem for that mysterious "someone else." In the world of pollution solutions we are all "someone else". Put your rubbish in street bins or take it home.

Be a Tidy Kiwi and teach younger and new kiwis about civic pride by example.

The greatest potential weapon in the fight against litter the Council has is your good will.

Its time we all turned back into tidy kiwis.