18/09/2005: The International
Coastal Cleanup campaign culminated yesterday
(Saturday 17 September 2005) on Robben Island
with a beach clean-up where more than 200
volunteers cleaned up one of the world heritage
sites and collected more than 450 bags of
litter.
This annual International Coastal Clean-up
Campaign, led by the Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism with the support of many
partners and stakeholders, saw South Africas
beaches, waterways and coastline being cleaned
throughout the week, covering most of the
countrys 300km coastline.
The International Coastal Cleanup is aimed
to engage people to remove trash and debris
from the worlds beaches and waterways, to
identify the sources of debris and to encourage
change behaviour that cause pollution. It
is not only about pollution clean-up but also
about prevention, in educating and empowering
people to become part of the pollution solution.
Nearly 80% of marine pollution comes from
land-based sources and activities, and the
bulk of this is plastic. During the 2004 clean-up
more than 2000 volunteers collected 16 tons
of marine debris, most of which comprised
of plastic beverage bottles, food wrappers,
and cigarettes .
More than 100 beach cleanups have been registered
with the department, covering Western Cape,
Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal and tens of
hundreds of people have volunteered to participate.
South Africa joined more than 100 countries
around the world in a bid to remove trash
and debris, a commitment meant to clean-up
the worlds coastline and waterways.
The clean-up coincide with the announcement
of the winners of a national learner competition
launched earlier this year by the Deputy Minster
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice
Mabudafhasi, during the National Environmental
Week.
Key partners for the International Coastal
Clean-up campaign include the Plastics Federation,
Toyota, SABC Education and Pick n Pay.
