Durban was buzzing with activity on Sunday when proud residents took to the streets as part of a ‘City Clean-Up’ drive in the build up to what is sure to become one of Durban’s prized events, the FNB Durban 10K CITYSURFRUN.
Our ‘City Clean-Up’ drive started in Joburg in September at the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN before heading to Durban in October. Durban has the potential to be a tourism hub that hosts copious amounts of international events. The ‘clean-up’ started on the Promenade, next to the Bike and Bean Coffee Shop.
“We are proud to partner with Stillwater Sports, the organisers of the ‘Run Your City’ series,” says Blake Dyason, ‘Joburg and Durban City Clean-Up’ pioneer.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the support received from the KZN running community, local businesses and residents.”
“Our partner, PETCO (South Africa’s national industry body accountable for managing the PET plastic industry’s Extended Producer Responsibility) provided the bags and gloves that were used by the volunteers,” continued Dyason. “Our other partner, Planet Care, collected and will sort the litter. Now that the clean-up is done, we look forward to participating in the inaugural FNB Durban 10K CITYSURFRUN this coming Sunday. I believe that the best way to see a city is on foot and that’s exactly what the event is doing, allowing residents to ‘explore their city’ in a safe environment.”
According to Janine Basson, PETCO Stakeholder and Relations Manager, PETCO’s mission is to grow the collection and recycling of PET plastic after consumer use.
“PETCO is proud to support the ‘Durban City Clean-Up’,” says Basson.
“We believe that ‘clean-ups’ have a significant role to play in shifting South Africa away from a ‘take-make-dispose’ system. Consumers must realize that they have the power to demand that their products are sustainably produced. This really does drive industry action in a big way.”
“We have engaged in radical CBD ‘Clean-Ups’ in the last three weeks,” says Zakhi Mkhize, Durban Inner City Programme Manager. “We went out every day with key departments and Inner City UIP from 10:00am– 14:00pm from Sunday, 17 September.
“We have now scaled down the clean-up operation to target Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We were excited to join the Private ‘Durban City Clean-Up’ on Sunday as it’s important for Government and Citizens to work together to make our city clean.”
The ‘Durban City Clean-Up’ saw the clearing of 99 bags of waste from the streets of Durban.
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