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Prams, blankets, guitars and tennis rackets are among the surprising items left behind at Auckland Airport by some of the 18.5 million travellers who pass through the terminals each year.
While every effort is made to reunite lost or leftover items, around 9000kgs of airport goods last year made their way to new homes thanks to ME Family Services.
“At Auckland Airport we have a team who work hard 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,” says Auckland Airport chief operations officer Chloe Surridge.
“ME Family Services do an amazing job of sorting the goods, washing or sanitising them and matching them with new owners. There are toys, shoes, clothes, homewares– even the empty suitcases themselves once all the goods have been cleared out – all high-quality items which can continue being useful for someone new.
“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.
“As a business we are working towards a target of reducing waste to landfill by 20% by 2030 compared to 2019. We’re currently tracking to 15 per cent below 2019.”
The items most frequently left behind at Auckland Airport are prams – more than 200 last financial year – and clothes, all of which are donated to MEFS to be re-purposed.
MEFS supports children, families and individuals in Māngere and Ōtāhuhu, and works with local schools and organisations ranging from housing and health providers, women’s refuge, migrant and refugee communities.
The items from AKL are mainly used to stock their ‘Resource Room’ onsite in Māngere, which acts like a store but all goods are free for those in need.
Chief executive of MEFS Carole Tana-Tepania says through re-purposing lost property items from the airport they’ve been able to create a safe space for 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.
MEFS first started working with Auckland Airport on a small scale eight years ago. Now they are collecting donations regularly all over the AKL precinct and helping around 800 families per year.
“The most popular items people tend to need are children’s clothes, baby gear and often equipment extra curricular activities –likesports or school camps.
“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,” she says.
MEFS have volunteers who offer their time in assisting with lost property pick ups in exchange for donated goods.
“It’s a whole community approach,” says Carole. “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.
“We work hard to match up the right items with the right whanau. We recently 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.”
Donated items in FY24 included:
- Bags
- Beds, bedding and mattresses (from the airport hotels)
- Blankets
- Books
- Car parts such as shock absorbers
- Car seats
- Chilly bin
- Clothes
- Crutches
- Guitar
- Hats
- Highchair
- Pillows
- Prams
- Shoes
- Skateboards
- Sleeping bags
- Shows
- Snow boards
- Surf boards
- Speakers
- Sports equipment (including tennis rackets)
- Suitcases
- Toys
- Umbrellas
- Walkers and walking sticks
- Wheelchairs
The hotels on the airport precinct donated more than 50 beds last year, including bedding such as duvets and mattress protectors. Linen and bedding make up one of the most in-demand items for people in need coming to MEFS.
If customers lose something at Auckland Airport (both the international or domestic terminal), it usually ends up at the lost property offices located in the international terminal by Door 1.
Customers are advised to contact the lost property team as soon as possible. The team will work hard to track it down and get it back to the rightful owner.
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, please phone: 0800 AIRPORT (0800 247 7678) option 4. Or Email: [email protected]
If items are left behind on the aircraft or luggage is mishandled, it’s a slightly different process and customers need to get in contact with their airline as soon as possible.
