Show a little love this Valentine's Day.

And show the love to Mauao. The Western Bay Wildlife Trust is looking for an army of volunteers with deep feelings for the Mount to help clean it up.

'We find all sorts of paraphernalia on Mauao,” says Western Bay Wildlife Trust chairperson Julia Graham. 'Deck chairs, jandals, fishing equipment, and lots and lots of coffee cups from the cafes, restaurants and street stalls around the Mount.”

There aren't any rubbish bins on Mauao because they attract predators. 'Rubbish bins just aren't an option,” says Julia. And people going for walks are generally in shorts and T-shirts, they can't store coffee cups until they get off the mountain and so they just biff them into the bush.

'It tells us people are pretty lazy and inconsiderate.”

And bottles are a huge problem. 'We get hundreds and hundreds of alcohol and soft drink bottles. 'People go up Mauao to drink at night and they aren't interested in carrying off their rubbish.”

Last Valentine's Day volunteers helped the trust remove 80 bags of rubbish. 'We go where the council contractors don't go – off the tracks, down in the rocks, through the paddocks and around the bushline.”

So the trust is inviting you to bring your love, sunscreen, a hat and water to the grass area outside the surf club at 9.30am this Sunday morning. 'We will supply the rubbish bags, the gloves and health and safety advice,” says Julia. The trust would like to see a 100 volunteers for the clean-up on February 12.

'Make a worthwhile contribution in the morning and have the afternoon at the beach.”

'Wouldn't it be great if we only got 40 bags of rubbish?” says Julia. 'It would indicate a change in attitude and that people are taking more pride in our community.” Then, she says, we need to start saying to people: 'Hey! Pick up your rubbish, please don't throw that there.”

But the main message, says Julia, is people shouldn't take rubbish onto the mountain unless they're prepared to carry it off again. 'Surely it's not hard.”