15,000 people cleaned up the beaches, rivers and other waterways throughout September and will continue to do so through October so breeding birds can have a cleaner environment.
South Africa (29 September 2021) – The annual highlight on the Mzansi eco-calendar is Clean-Up & Recycle Week which took place from the 13th to the 18th of September 2021. South Africans joined clean-ups across the country; a total of 15,000 people joined in.
John Kieser, Sustainability Manager at Plastics SA, reported that more than 15 000 volunteers took part in clean-ups in the coastal areas, as well as at rivers, streams, inland water sources and in communities throughout the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape under the International Coastal Clean-Up and Clean-up & Recycle SA banners.
“We have been doing clean-ups in these regions and around the country throughout the month of September. We handed out 350 000 refuse bags to coordinators and our clean-ups will continue deep into October in certain areas due to ecological reasons, such as shore birds that are currently breeding,” Kieser explains.
John shared that many of the beaches cleaned up were already kept pretty tidy, saying that the communities were doing a great job keeping the areas free of litter.
“The areas around Simons Town and Clengairn had very clean beaches. However, 56 volunteers managed to fill 146 bags with litter when they ventured deeper inland to the nearby dune and railway perimeters.This made coordinators realise that whilst we might have clean beaches, the surrounding areas are also in need of increased attention. Urban clean-ups will always have material to be collected due to the leakage of material from concentrated areas with no or poor waste management,” he expounds.
Plastics SA reported that bottle tops were the most collected macro items in both urban and non-urban clean-ups. Other common plastics found included earbud or lollipop sticks. Later this year, they will be releasing a report detailing how much was collected of each kind of plastic.
“We would like to thank each volunteer that participated in this year’s Clean-Up & Recycle Week SA and helped to raise awareness about the importance of removing litter from the environment. It was great to see so many people arrive at both formal and informal clean-ups, grabbing the refuse bags and simply starting to clean the rivers and beaches, “John concludes.
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