JOHANNESBURG -  Coca-Cola and its largest local bottler, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) have pledged R600 000 to assist victims of the Easter weekend floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The companies will also be partnering with local communities, employees and Plastics SA to help clean up some of the affected beaches.

Nolundi Mzimba – CCBSA Regional Public Affairs and Communications Manager, said,  “Disasters like these touch our hearts and affect all of us. We have thus pledged R600 000 towards relief efforts already underway for those displaced by the floods. But crises like these call for more than financial aid. As a company that knows how to get things done, we are also partnering with various stakeholders to get involved with cleaning up the litter and plastic that has been deposited on some of the beaches in the affected areas.”

In KZN, CCBSA will be working alongside 120 learners from Gobhogobho and Eqinisweni Primary schools and the Durban Green Corridor to clean up Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve on Friday 26 April. Both schools participate in the CCBSA Schools Recycling Program.

On Monday, 120 CCBSA employees will spend the day cleaning up Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve in partnership with Plastics SA.

  In the Eastern Cape, CCBSA employees will also be joining Wildlife and Environment Society South Africa (WESSA) on Saturday 27 April, for their monthly beach clean-up, which will take place at Wells Estate Beach in Port Elizabeth.

“Coca-Cola has been working hard for some years, in conjunction with Plastics SA, to promote a culture of recycling, and grassroots initiatives like this put these principles to action,” she concludes. “They also provide a way for all of us to demonstrate that we are in this together, and that collaborative effort will provide the solutions.”

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