As a committed partner in the conservation of waterways and natural areas, Coca-Cola South Africa and Peninsula Beverages (PenBev) teamed up with the Ocean Conservancy and the Baakens Valley Community Partnership for a day of cleaning in the 29th annual International Coastal Clean-up.

Held globally on 19 September, 2015, International Coastal Clean-up is the world’s largest volunteer effort, attracting hundreds of thousands of participants to collect millions of kilograms of trash and debris from beaches, lakes and waterways.

Multinational mobilising

Coca-Cola system associates, family members and friends pitched in to help clean their local community of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth as part of the Company’s 20-year litter abatement effort.

Organised by the Ocean Conservancy, the International Coastal Clean-up inspires action to remove litter and debris from waterways and, in the process, helps to change the behaviours that allowed these items to reach the water in the first place.

This year, Coca-Cola associates, along with their friends and families successfully cleaned up 600kg of waste at the Port Elizabeth Baakens Estuary in that would have otherwise been left to pollute the marine environment and enter the marine food chain.

Schools involvement

In Cape Town, thirty youngsters from St Joseph’s Home for Children and 100 from the Waves for Change programme that teaches surf skills and life skills to youth at risk gathered near the False Bay Surf Lifesaving Club on Saturday morning to participate in the Beach Clean Up.  One hundred children from the Grassy Park Educare Centre also joined in. A large pile of 138 bags filled with litter weighing just under a tonne was evidence of the hard work.

Coca-Cola’s partnership with Ocean Conservancy is important, as it aligns with the company’s goal to achieve a recovery rate in developed markets of 75%of the equivalent beverage bottles and cans the company introduces into the marketplace by 2020.