Cow bones, miscellaneous shoes and a computer mouse were among the rubbish cleared from Waikareao Estuary today in an operation involving about 100 children from Pillans Point Primary School.

The pupils spent the morning cleaning up around the estuary near Sulphur Point with Tauranga City Council pollution prevention officer Toby Barach, who teaches the pupils about the environment and what they can do to protect it.

Pillans Point School pupils Amaya Shipton, 7, Estee Taylor, 6, Lissy Brader-Steed, 7, and Simone Coldrick, 7, with the rubbish they have collected. Photos by Tracy Hardy.

'Collecting rubbish in the local area is a good way to reinforce that message,” says Toby, who believes the children are beginning to realise the importance of caring for the environment.

'I think they're really excited to start with, but when we talk a little bit more about how it gets here and what it can do to the environment – I think they actually realise it's not a good thing.”

Year 2 pupil Simone Coldrick was among those cleaning up the estuary today. She says littering is bad 'because it's making our planet really messy and really dirty”.

The seven-year-old says a good way to help look after the environment is to keep putting rubbish in the bin.

This is the eighth clean-up run yearly in various areas involving different schools in the Bay of Plenty. Schools that wish to get involved can contact Toby at TCC.