Last year, during the week of rubbish removal more than 30,000 volunteers across the country picked up 300 tonnes of litter.
A Dunedin City Council spokesman said it was throwing its support behind this year’s Clean Up Week, which was a series of events focused on picking up litter in public spaces.
The special week of events is organised by Keep New Zealand Beautiful, held from September 17-23.
The public would be able to see council staff hitting the streets in some of the more popular areas around the city as they joined the clean-up, the spokesman said.
Staff had already been to areas with high volumes of litter such as the Filleul St/Moray Pl car park and the Andersons Bay inlet, and planned to be out and about around the city over the coming days.
"Our staff are doing these on a voluntary basis as team-building exercises and to support the wider Clean Up Week initiative," the spokesman said.
The work involved picking up litter, bagging it and ensuring it was disposed of correctly.
"We wholeheartedly support Clean Up Week, and we hope our efforts will make a difference and encourage others to step up as well," he said.
The first taste of the week of environmentalism was on Saturday, when student groups joined the Keep Dunedin Beautiful team to clean up waste from the Town Belt.
With events planned across the city this week, the local effort is extending by a day as Saturday September 24 is set to be the busiest day after a variety of organisations jumped on board.
A St Kilda clean up will start at 9am on Saturday, organised by Our Sea Our Future and the Otago Student Volunteer Army. Transport and lunch will be provided to those who sign up.
The Valley Spring Clean, a "by community for the community" event focused on diverting waste from landfill, will be held by the Valley Project on Saturday from 11am-3pm.
