On Saturday, 15 September citizens from around the world will engage in a mass coastal cleanup to remove thousands of tons of waste from beaches and waterways as part of the International Coastal Cleanup Day initiative.
In response to this the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) is calling on the country’s coastal communities to get involved by participating in their local coastal cleanup event to help protect our coastlines and marine environment. IWMSA president Leon Grobbelaar says addressing marine pollution has become imperative to protect the country’s 3000 Kilometres of coastline the many threatened and endangered species that inhabit these marine environments.Effective waste management
“While the beauty of our coastlines attracts people from far and wide, the high volumes of waste that is produced poses a major threat to our precious coastal environments,” he notes.“There is a clear need to effectively deal with waste items in coastal areas,” says Grobbelaar “Bin lids need to be closed at all times. When lids are open, the contents of the bin will be subjected to the wind which will lift and carry waste items, especially light weight plastics, into the sea,” adds Grobbelaar.
The global statistics from last year’s International Coastal Cleanup Day efforts show that 789 thousand people collected 9 285 tonnes of waste over 30 472 Kilometres of coastline.
