Help is arriving for Tauranga's environmental heroes as a national beautification organisation arrives in town.

The opening of Keep New Zealand Beautiful's Tauranga branch was announced today by Tauranga environmental campaigner and consultant Marty Hoffart.

Tauranga environmental campaigner and consultant Marty Hoffart. Photo: Supplied.

'Having this iconic brand here is fantastic news for our city,” says Marty, who chairs Environmental Education for Resource Sustainability Trust and heads the award winning national Paper4trees programme.

'It opens up all sorts of new opportunities for individuals, organisations and businesses to help tidy and beautify our city and it means national support for the good things that are already happening here.”

Marty says Tauranga residents can expect to see Keep Tauranga Beautiful branding attached to a myriad of campaigns, after the national organisation granted approval for a Tauranga branch earlier this month.

As branch committee chair, Marty plans to encourage more local organisations and businesses to adopt a public area and focus on keeping it clean and tidy.

Marty intends to offer more support and recognition to the people he calls ‘quiet environmental heroes' who he says have been cleaning up the region's beaches, parks, residential streets and Mauao for years.

'But I want to do more than just pick up litter,” he says. 'So much of the waste that winds up in gutters and waterways and landscaped areas could be stopped at its source, so all that packaging never reaches our community.

'Central government needs to put pressure on the packaging industry and I'm happy to remind them of their responsibility through Keep Tauranga Beautiful.”

Marty says research shows the presence of litter encourages more littering and there is growing public awareness of the damage plastic is doing to the oceans.

'Most Tauranga residents feel pretty lucky to live in this stunningly beautiful place and we can all do a bit more to keep it that way, that includes me.

'It's annual Clean Up New Zealand Week so I need to remember to pick up litter when I see it.”

Keep New Zealand Beautiful chief executive Heather Saunderson is thrilled to have Marty at the helm of the new Tauranga branch.

'Marty's been doing this kind of work for years anyway,” says Heather. 'It just makes sense to make him officially part of our team.”

Marty will meet with Tauranga City Council, Environment Bay of Plenty and other stakeholders to gain a better understanding their current programmes and offer support to their efforts.