Volunteers and council workers are amazed at the amount of rubbish they have removed from the stream on Sherwood Street today.

Around 20 volunteers gave up their time to help clear rubbish from the stream which as been subject to a pollution problem about a month ago.

Mike Fitzgerald finds a tyre in the stream.

Tauranga City Council Pollution Prevention officer Toby Barrac says when they were investigating the pollution incident they realised how much rubbish and other muck was polluting the waterway.

'We organised a community clean up day and organised contractors to come out and do a bit of the grunt work.”

Both sides of the river were searched with a fine tooth comb and around two and half trucks loads of rubbish taken away.

'It was surprising, there as a lot of old stuff.

'We found about 25 car tyres, two old bicycles, two couches, a head board from a bed, half a dozen chairs; we found every type of ball imaginable, about 30 tennis balls and all the general stuff.”

Toby says there's always been a bit of a problem in the area with the two schools.

'I'm not blaming the schools but they don't help because there is a lot of traffic up and down there.

'But it also hasn't had a clean up down there in a long time.”

He says a lot of the rubbish they took away had been there for years.

'A surprising amount of it was hidden, you don't realise how much is there until you get right into it.

'Council does go through and remove the obvious stuff from time to time, but there hasn't been a real thorough going over.”

Mark Johns, left, and Barry McGregor remove rubbish including bike parts.

Volunteer Fiona Kean.