Keep NZ Beautiful began a campaign to bring litter down after a one week litter clean-up collected 120 football fields worth of rubbish.
The litter campaign will be the first of its kind since the 90's.
Christchurch had the second highest amount of litter, second only to Auckland. The majority of the litter was cigarette butts (87%) with fast food packets being the second highest (5%).
Marketing manager Kath Doubleday saysKiwiss need to start thinking about doing the right thing and dispose of litter thoughtfully.
"Almost all Kiwi's that were surveyed said that it's very important to maintain our clean green image and unfortunately we think that the message has gotten a little bit lost along the way."
She says Kiwis' 'herd mentality' is a major cause of littering in public events.
The campaign will focus heavily on spreading the word, with adverts and educational programmes being the main tool.
