Cape Town - Hout Bay community, organisations, schools and businesses are rallying with Sentinel Ocean Alliance (SOA) for a large collaborative clean-up event on International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day this Saturday to clean up not only the beach, but the areas that need desperate attention in Hout Bay.
SOA is working with other local Hout Bay organisations, including Blue Bay Harbour, Friends of the Disa River, Oceano Reddentes and IY Cook Up to set up four cleaning stations for ICC Day to reduce plastic waste in different areas around Hout Bay, and appealed to the public to join in this effort.
SOA operations director Marguerite Kimberley said the areas they would be working in were Hout Bay harbour and beach, Disa River and Hout Bay soccer field.
Kimberley said that because their organisation is at Hout Bay beach, they often see the physical effects of plastic waste, as the kids in their programmes live and play in these areas. They aim to set an example as a community of what could be done to address the build-up of waste in these areas.
“One of the biggest contributors is the lack of waste infrastructure in the communities of Hout Bay, particularly in Hangberg around the harbour and in Imizamo Yethu,” said Kimberley.
Oceano Reddentes founder Jade Bothma said that instead of just hosting a one clean-up for ICC Day, they decided to join forces with SOA to get the community involved and make a bigger impact for the whole of Hout Bay.
IY Community Cook Up director Tjarla Norton said they would assist with the community clean-up at the soccer field and skate park because it was a space youngsters used often. They wanted to put pride back into the community playgrounds and other such places through more clean-ups.
SOA founder Frank Solomon said: “It is important to highlight ICC Day, but we also believe that every day should be clean-up day. We hope this event will create more awareness of the plastic pollution problem, and that consumers and businesses will try to make more sustainable choices.”
Those interested in getting involved can find more information on Instagram @sentinelocean on Facebook @Sentinelocean, or their website sentineloceanalliance.org