New Zealand is known for being clean and green but unfortunately our major city wasn’t looking so beautiful. Auckland Council came to us with a problem. Businesses were disposing of their rubbish incorrectly and illegally, letting it pile up on the streets and spill into drains.

We needed to create a simple and cost effective way to change behaviour and rejuvenate the CBD. With a simple design change we transformed the everyday rubbish bag into a green bush, which when placed curbside formed hedges.

With every business within the CBD receiving the colourful bags and education kit, the streets transformed overnight. The bags gained media attention both locally and internationally and illegal dumping dropped by 78%.

We took the ordinary rubbish bag and applied a green bush design, so when filled and placed curbside, the bags formed hedges. We also created a purple flower design which formed pansy bushes when placed curbside.

-Illegal dumping in Auckland’s CBD dropped by 78%.-We doubled the value of the campaign via free media, with the news story running on New Zealand’s two major networks.

-We received positive feedback from businesses.

-Businesses became aware that commercial waste was something that they must take responsibility for – as a result the council received a significant increase in calls to their call center enquiring further on the issue.

*Currently we are still waiting on the full reports from Auckland Council.