18.5 million travellers through Auckland airport left nine tonnes of luggage behind them. Photo: ANDREW KACIMAIWAI
New Zealand’s biggest airport is proving to be a wonderful source for reuseable goods – nine tonnes of it by last year’s reckoning.
In 2024, 18.5 million domestic and overseas travellers passed through Auckland International Airport.
They left behind 200 prams, car parts (like shock absorbers), surf and snow boards, walkers, wheelchairs, guitars and sports equipment.
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The airport’s (airport code AKL) chief operations officer is Chloe Surridge who emphasises that every effort is made to reconnect lost property with customers. However …
“There are times when we can’t match items left behind in our terminals with owners so it’s great to give them a useful second life in our local community,” she says.
“We don’t want to see these items ending up in landfill or gathering dust at the terminal; it’s so much better they are re-homed for good”.
That rehoming is done by ME Family Services (MEFS) who helped 800 families last year.
“ME Family Services do an amazing job of sorting the goods, washing or sanitising them and matching them with new owners,” Surridge says.
Even emptied suitcases are finding new purpose and AKL operates with a landfill waste reduction target.
“We are working towards a target of reducing waste to landfill by 20 per cent by 2030 compared to 2019. We’re currently tracking to 15 per cent below 2019,” Surridge says.
MEFS FINDS NEW PURPOSE
The items most frequently left behind at AKL are prams and clothes, all of which are donated to MEFS to be re-purposed.
MEFS supports children, families and persons in the neighbouring suburbs of Mangere and Otahuhu and with schools and organisations.
The AKL items are mainly used to stock a ‘resource room’ in Mangere, which acts like a store but all goods are free for those in need.
MEFS chief executive Carole Tana-Tepania says re-purposing lost property from the airport allowed them to help those in need of essential items.
“It’s all about giving back and it’s so fulfilling. We see families walking away with bags full of items they need and could otherwise not afford,” she says.
MEFS first started working with AKL on a small scale eight years ago. Now they collect donations regularly all over the airport precinct.
Airport hotels are also involved by donating bedding and mattresses.
Kiwi aviation pioneer Jean Batten’s aircraft hangs in the airport’s international terminal. Photo: ANDREW KACIMAIWAI
“The most popular items people tend to need are children’s clothes, baby gear and often equipment for extra-curricular activities –like sports or school camps,” Tana-Tepania says.
“Also warm gear for winter is very popular and any books we receive get collected quickly – we’ve had 50 books from the airport go in a single day.”
MEFS volunteers help out with lost property pick-ups in exchange for donated goods.
“It’s a whole community approach,” says Tana-Tepania.
“We’re even seeing people bring their past donated goods back to us because they’ve outgrown them but they are still good quality. They’ll recycle them again and then walk away with new items,” she says.
“We work hard to match up the right items with the right whanau (family).
“We had a mum walking her four children everywhere. We sorted two prams for her, making sure they were the right size. There was one for her to push and one for her older child to push, so she can get everyone to school and daycare more easily.”
Other items left behind include blankets, highchairs, pillows, shoes, skateboards, sleeping bags, walkers and walking sticks, and wheelchairs.
Hotels on the airport precinct donated over 50 beds last year, including bedding such as duvets and mattress protectors.
LOST YOUR STUFF?
If customers lose something at Auckland Airport (international and domestic), it usually ends up at the lost property offices in the international terminal by Door 1.
Lost property items are held for between one to three months (depending on the item), before they are re-homed.
For lost property items at Auckland Airport, call 0800 AIRPORT (0800 247 7678) option 4 or (more likely) email [email protected]
If items are left behind on an aircraft or luggage is mishandled, customers need to contact their airline as soon as possible.
