Buddy keeps Hamilton beautiful

From a distance, Buddy could be seen as a waste to society but really he is picking up our waste. Riley Kennedy and Danielle Campbell bumped into him in the street and asked him a few questions.

Born and raised in Raglan, every day since
1974 Buddy has dedicated his life to making our streets safe by picking up
rubbish that could hurt someone.

Each morning he sets out with his trolley and his rubbish-decorated hat in search of rubbish.

“I go around looking for anything dangerous
and take it away.”

As he picked up a brick and placed it in his in his trolley he said: “Imagine getting this across the head.

“I do it for the people like kids and the handicapped because they don’t deserve to be hurt.

“Anything really dangerous like needles I
take to the police and they get rid of them properly.

“If I can make people’s day just a wee bit better, I know I have got out of bed for the right reasons.”

“It took the police a while to realise what I’m doing is actually good for the community, they were a bit skeptical of me at first, which is understandable because who spends their days picking up rubbish?

“The police tell me to wear the hat because if there is a complaint about me they know it is just that ‘mad Māori’ again,” he said while laughing.

His hat is filled with everything from nail
clippers to springs and he says he has several and it represents the journey he
has been on.

“The people I help pick something up off
the street and put it on my hat.”

He started off in Auckland spending 17-years
there cleaning up their streets then went to Christchurch and spent some time
in Australia and for the last 12 years has been the self-designated rubbish
cleaner here in Hamilton.

“If I can make people’s day just a wee bit better, I know I have got out of bed for the right reasons.”