More than 200 prams were left behind at Auckland Airport last year. Photo: Supplied
Prams, guitars and false teeth are among the surprising items left behind by some of the 18.5 million travellers who pass through the Auckland Airport each year.
While every effort is made to reunite leftover items, about 9000kgs of goods last year were donated to new homes with the help of a local charity.
Chief operations officer Chloe Surridge told First Up it is only once staff were sure the items will remain unclaimed, that they passed them to the community.
"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,"
The airport donated unclaimed lost property to a South Auckland not-for-profit called ME Family Services (MEFS).
There were more than 200 prams left behind at Auckland Airport last year, which are donated to MEFS to be re-purposed.
Surridge said it was much better for the charity to re-purpose the goods because otherwise they would either end up in landfill or gather dust at the terminal.
"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," she said.
"As a business we are working towards a target of reducing waste to landfill by 20 percent by 2030 compared to 2019. We're currently tracking to 15 percent below 2019."
MEFS supported children, families and individuals in Māngere and Ōtāhuhu.
They also worked with local schools and housing and health providers, women's refuge, migrant and refugee communities.
The items from Auckland Airport were mainly used to stock their 'resource room' in Māngere.
The room was set up like a retail store but all items were free for those in need.
MEFS chief executive Carole Tana-Tepania told First Up Auckland Airport unclaimed lost property counted for nearly 90 percent of their donations.
She said through re-purposing these items, they were 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 eight years ago.
The donations currently helped about 800 families per year.
"The most popular items people tend to need are children's clothes, baby gear and often equipment extra curricular activities -like sports 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 said.
She said sometimes people volunteered to pick up lost property in exchange of the donated goods.
"It's a whole community approach," Tana-Tepania said.
"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 said.
"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 day-care more easily."
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.
Lost items at Auckland Airport usually ended up at the lost property offices located in the international terminal by Door 1.
Customers were advised to contact the lost property team as soon as possible.
Auckland Airport said the team will work hard to track it down and get it back to the rightful owner.
Lost property items were held for between one to three months (depending on the item), before they were re-homed.
If items were left behind on the aircraft or luggage is mishandled, it was a slightly different process and customers need to get in contact with their airline as soon as possible.
* For lost property items at Auckland Airport, phone: 0800 AIRPORT (0800 247 7678) option 4, or email: lostproperty@aucklandairport.co.nz
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