Moanataiari School pupils make use of a fine morning this week to plant more than 300 trees to beautifying the old landfill behind the dump.

Room 7 teacher Whaea Maria says the experience was awesome for the children, to be able to give back to the environment.

Ignacio Marquez-Bernal, eight, Alex Williams nine, and Riley McCasgill, eight, work together to plant a legacy. Photo: Thames-Coromandel District Council.

'Many of the children have planted before, and showed great enthusiasm in the planting process.

All plants used in Tuesday morning's event are natives, which have been grown locally.

Smart Environmental Ltd's Howard Saunders is an ace at sourcing native plants for a great price, including some grown in the Trees for Survival programme.

Howard is no stranger to planting trees; he remembers planting with fellow school student Peter Blake when he was five.

'Every planting day I watch the kids and wonder is the next Peter Blake among them?” says Howard.

'I want the planting days to be a success, so the children can continue to come back and look at the planting and see the difference they are making.

'The coolest thing is the kids get an understanding that they can make a difference.”

Community involvement is a large component of Howard's role.

Smart Environmental pays for Howard's time to be part of planting days like this, and he's keen for them to be seen as more than just a rubbish collection service.

Nine-year-olds Amy Kruger and Faith Wilson add their planting skills to the day. Photo: Thames-Coromandel District Council.

This is the sixth planting this season; and with one more to go it's been one of the most successful planting seasons to date.