Could bringing back bottles for cash recycling scheme help clean up the Hauraki Gulf?

Remember the days when you'd take bottles and cans to the dairy or school and get a bit of cash back?

Well there's a charity trying to get the old "bottle drive" going again - extending the idea to pesky plastic.

They're hoping it'll help them clean up the Auckland's Hauraki Gulf at the same time.

Damon Birschfield, CEO of EcoMatters, is determined to mobilise the majority.

"We know there's small group of people, roughly eight per cent who will be proactive.

"Then there's 35 to 38 per cent of people, we call them the believers but the non-doers, and they know there's an issue but they need a bit of encouragement to actually do something," Mr Birschfield says.

Bottle drives used to be popular in New Zealand and are proving to be a good scheme in Scandinavian countries.

"What they've found in Scandinavia is that it's reduced plastic by 90 per cent just by rewarding people for bringing in plastic rubbish."

Organisers still haven't worked out how much the bottles are worth and say that will come further down the track.