Volunteers turned out in droves at the weekend – to honour International Coastal Cleanup Day – and help clear the country’s beaches.
Sustainability Director for Plastics SA Douw Steyn said in a statement that they had helped co-ordinate 400 cleanups in the Cape and 40 in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We will only have the official stats of the amount and type of litter collected later this year once all the audit sheets have been compiled and analysed, but we can definitely say that we saw an increase in the number of community groups, schools and businesses who participated in this year’s (event),” he said.
Steyn explained that packaging continued to be a “major culprit” and items such as straws, sweet wrappers, chips packets, ear buds and cigarette butts were found strewn across our coastlines.
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“Approximately 75% of ocean litter is derived from land-based waste. Without effective waste collection, an avalanche of debris enters the ocean. Even a packet that is carelessly thrown out of a car window thousands of kilometres inland, could eventually find its way to the ocean.”
He said: “Plastic is not the problem. People not discarding their used plastics products properly or ensuring it gets recycled, is the issue that needs to be addressed.”
“Effective methods for separation-at-source and the collection of recyclable materials are vital if we are to find a long-term and workable solution.”
To this end, he said, they invited industry bodies, government and communities to work together with them as they counted down to the next annual cleanup.
He said volunteers from more than 150 countries will join the world’s biggest positive civic collaboration in the fight against illegal waste.
For more information about the 2017 International Coastal Clean-Up, visit the movement’s
.