On Saturday September 19, pupils from Cape Town Environmental Education Trust’s (CTEET) conservation leadership programme, along with the The Beach Co-op, Just Africa Scuba and Argonaut Science, conducted a clean-up on the shoreline at Harmony Park, Strand.
This was to celebrate International Coastal Clean-Up Day, and was made possible by Ocean Conservancy and Plastics SA.
The children logged all the trash collected on data sheets provided by Ocean Conservancy, and then recorded it online.
This data collection process is important for creating solutions for Trash Free Seas.
September is clean-up and recycle month in South Africa, and a number of community clean-ups and waste collection campaigns are organised around the country in order to minimise pollution in the environment.
According to the organisation’s environmental educator, Tammy-Lee Appolis: “The most common items found by pupils were lollipop sticks, plastic bits and plastic wrappers. The pupils were given re-usable bags to put the waste into and those were collected by the Beach-Co-op. The rest of the day was dedicated to learning about marine life and teaching the pupils about citizen science and how they can be involved in making a change”.
CTEET is committed to working with youth and teaching various communities to be more responsible citizens. Ms Appolis says: “We urge the community to learn more about how to reduce consumption of single use plastics, to shop responsibly, or even make eco-bricks. Change is possible, one plastic bottle at a time”.