Monday 30 November 2009
If you’ve ever felt the urge to answer the call of the ocean, but hated to tread through piles of rubbish trying to get there, stop moaning and do something about it.
This has been the message behind an Ocean Minded campaign to clean up Witsand Beach near Scarborough, on Saturday November 28. Armed with disposable bags and determined to reclaim their space, 35 volunteers including a group of surfers led by Anton Louw under the Ocean Minded banner, the Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group(KEAG) and a few like-minded individuals bandied together to clean up the beach.
In one of the most bizarre acts performed by a city council in past years, it was decided to create a waste tip, or rubbish landfill, within sight of a pristine stretch of beach in the southern Cape Peninsula. This winter has seen it break through from the dunes and onto the beautiful Witsands beach. Duh.
Four hundred rubbish bags later and with the building of a small sandbag buffer wall it is with cautious optimism that KEAG’s Wally Petersen says that the spillage looks to have been contained. But, saying goodbye to bad rubbish is easier said that done as tons of rubbish that have been dumped in the area reared its ugly head because of shifting sand “Of course this was a silly site to put a dump in the first place,” said Wally.
“In 2008, the City realized that something needed to be done but relocating the rubbish would cost close to R20 million. So, if we can’t move the rubbish we should contain it,” First order of business was to plant brushwood to catch shifting sand and create dunes above the uncovered litter.
Wally and his team working in partnership with the City of Cape Town also opened up a channel to divert away water from the dump site. Despite their efforts recent weather conditions exposed a large amount of rubble which threatened to make its way to the ocean. The clock was ticking.
However, thanks to word of mouth and the Internet. No time waste wasted on rounding up the troops to prevent this from happening.
“It’s wonderful how private individuals come on board,” said Wally The rubbish that has been collected will be taken to the nearby Strandfontein landfill.
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Comments
Our ocean smiles with people like the ones did the job, maybe is not a good job but for sure later at night we can say, we help nature a lot
Aloha
Gaston Caminata
The Witsands debacle is a simple case of dumping by the local authority, but I can certainly state that most beach litter that I have seen is NOT by local people - most of the cr*p I pick up on Noordhoek beach comes off foreign ships - mostly chinese (or other) plastic products (bottles, packaging, etc).
Either pick it up and make SA a better place for everyone, or ignore it and be no better than the person that dropped it in the first place.
One concern: Are we not just moving the problem to Strandfontein, where the exact same thing can happen again?
Your advice is sound; surfers should feel compelled to pick up trash they see when walking to and from their sessions. It would really make a difference, and give one more peace of mind then ignoring it. After all, it's not like if we ignore it, it'll go away...
A small axe to grind - I am amazed at how many surfers just walk past rubbish on their way to and from the waves as if it was not there; if everyone just picked up a few pieces each time, the beaches would be a lot cleaner for everyone. It's really not so hard to do. If it involves a longer walk, then take a plastic bag along and collect as you go.
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