Pupils at Broad Bay school reckon it is easier to collect them than say the phrase.
The school is collecting bread bag tags and sending them to South Africa to be recycled into seedling trays.
The trays are then sold to raise funds for wheelchairs for disabled people who are in need.
The Bread Tags for Wheelchairs project was started in South Africa in 2006, by retired nurse Mary Honeybun.
After many inquiries from New Zealanders about supporting the project, a New Zealand branch was opened earlier this year.
Broad Bay School is among many schools, workplaces, churches, sports groups and cafes across the country, collecting tags for the project.
Principal Greg MacLeod said the pupils had been collecting the tags for only a week and had already accumulated more than 1000 of them.
"We're an Enviro-School and we wanted to do something that would make a difference in the world.
"And that starts with small things like these plastic tags that we don't really think of, and people aren't recycling them. They just go into landfill.
"We're trying to show the kids that big things often start small."
He said there was a lot of "doom and gloom" concerning the issue of plastics in the oceans and climate change, and he wanted his pupils and their families to feel as if they were actually able to help.
"Our idea is that if we educate the community, then hopefully we can change the hearts and minds of people to do something and not feel helpless."
"This project gives the kids a bit of hope."
