SA participates in International Coastal Cleanup day

Various organisations and companies will embark on beach clean-up projects along South Africa’s coast on Saturday as part of International Coastal Cleanup day.

In Cape Town, groups of volunteers from the Two Oceans Aquarium will gather at Sunset beach in Bloubergstrand to record everything collected.

At the end of the clean-up, all data will be collated to contribute to research into the tracking of different sources of marine litter.

Plastic pollution of the sea has become a major concern, so clearing plastic objects like bottles from the beaches is a priority.

Coca-Cola South Africa district manager, Allan Long says we are linking with the international coastal clean-up project. That is a worldwide campaign so Coca Cola beverages South Africa have linked with this campaign and got 14 sites along the coast, from Durban North Coast, all the way to Cape Town.

She says: “We link with the clean-ups of the beach fronts and the coastal areas to ensure that we show the communities that waste does not work for us and that we need to make sure that waste does not end up in our oceans. So today is about how micro plastics and various things can affect food security in the future, obviously we eat fish and that could lead to problems down the line.”

Communications and Sustainability Manager for the Two Oceans Aquarium, Helen Lockhart says the oceans are facing a human made plastic catastrophe.

It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic by weight than fish in the ocean. Last year, 18 000 South Africans joined the world-wide campaign and in the process of cleaning 527 kilometres of coastline, collected more than 12 000 kilograms of litter.