Explorer and viral environmentalist Brando Yelavich is all systems go cleaning up the Coromandel bush, this time with a few more hands on deck.
By Jordan Smith of Local Democracy Reporting
An old industrial printer, a road-side NZTA safety sign, numerous tyres, dumped animal skulls infested with rats and a decades-old L&P can were all collected by Yelavich and a group of hearty volunteers in an hour alone on Friday at Coromandel Forest Park lookout, between Kopu and Hikuai.
Yelavich said the overwhelming support for his previous efforts spurred him to host his first volunteer clean up event under his Project Guardian organisation, saying the vision is "so much bigger than what I can do on my own".
"I want to start a movement. I want to inspire people to get out and clean up rubbish to call people out on their crap," he said.
"Don't just complain about it and report it to council and expect someone else to manage it."
Thames-Coromandel District Council have been under heavy public scrutiny following Local Democracy Reporting's previous story on Yelavich, where he criticised council for not continuing to waive his hundreds of dollars worth of dump fees.
Addressing the issue in a social media post, council said they "can't just wipe someone's transfer station fees because their followers think they should", adding community clean up projects require health and safety procedures.
"You hate rates, we hate asking you for rates, and everything costs too much. We wish we had lots of money to spend on anything that sounds like a good idea, but we don't," the post read.
"Some people have called this 'red tape', but things like falls and hazardous waste can be fatal. We don't have as many followers as some people because we have to do run-of-the-mill things like 'follow the law' and 'make sure people don't die on our watch'. We actually think that's quite important."
Illegal dumping cost council $13,240 in the 2025/26 financial year, a drop from $45,744 the year prior.
Speaking at the clean-up, Yelavich said council have agreed to an in-person meeting to "hopefully work together" to help solve the issue and help fund a pilot programme paying people to pick up rubbish.
Volunteers of all walks of life plied their trade under the hot Coromandel sun, with fellow environmentalist/content creator Daniel Anderton one of them.
Also known as DTEK Dan, he says the problem on the hill has only gotten worse in the 40 years he's been driving over it, questioning the "self entitled" and "lazy buggers" who dump there.
"The most frustrating part is the guys who stop on the side of the road and go 'oh, beautiful lookout', and dump the rubbish... who thinks like that?," he said.
"He's [Yelavich] had a few challenges with the council... this is their job. At the end of the day, this is someone's job."
Franz Hubmann hails from the Hutt Valley and was in the Coromandel on holiday when he saw the event posted by Yelavich, having followed him on social media.
Actively involved in clean-up groups in Wellington, Hubmann says existing arrangements with the local council in which they collect the rubbish cleared by volunteers highlight the proactive relationship.
"If you get in with the council, they can be really helpful because they want it cleared up as well.
"They don't have the funding to do it because it's quite expensive to pay contractors to do this kind of thing, especially with banks and health and safety. It's really time consuming."
Waihī local Leza Evans recalled joking with Yelavich the $700 dump fees were "going to affect your marriage", saying his efforts are creating awareness.
She pointed to like-minded folks in Gisborne and Kapiti Coast posting online of their efforts as proof.
"There's that saying a journey of 1000 miles starts with the first step, so this could be the first step for him initiating this all over."
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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