'I don't want my city to look like a dump'

A Dunedin schoolgirl has criticised students for making the city look like a dump.

Queen’s High School pupil Violet Campbell-Collins (13) said she spent three hours cleaning up a trashed North Ground on Sunday morning.

She had gone to work with her mother at the Good Earth Cafe and was planning to spend the day hanging out with a friend.

But Violet saw the field was littered with rubbish left by the hundreds of students who had partied on the sportsground the previous night.

The sight made her feel sad, so she decided she would ask for rubbish bags and get to work cleaning up the pitch.

She could not believe people thought it was acceptable to litter.

"It’s a public area. I don’t want my city to look like a dump," she said.

The actions of students were disrespectful and "honestly, just unbelievable".

Cleaning up the grounds made her feel better and eventually a local man came and joined her.

They filled about 12 bags with rubbish, along with several boxes.

Violet said that when Delta staff showed up, they were grateful and thanked her for making their jobs easier.

She said her mum was very proud of her and had a "wee cry".

Dunedin City Council parks and recreation group manager Scott MacLean confirmed that Delta attended the North Ground clean-up following a large gathering on Saturday night.

Seeing the type of littering that took place was "obviously really concerning", Mr MacLean said.

Glass on any sports field posed a clear risk to people using the grounds and Delta staff spent hours removing debris.

oscar.francis@odt.co.nz