NPO battles against tide of trash

The Philocaly Trail, founded by Essenwood resident, Nikki Williamson, takes place on October 23 to 24. Aptly named ‘Philocaly’ (love of beauty), the trail runs from the Beachwood Mangroves to the eMdloti Main beach. Participants who join this year’s Philocaly Trail are required to make a donation of R300. Funds raised will assist the local non-profit organisation’s (NPO) WildOceans, Breathe Ocean Conservation and Adopt-A-River. In a three-part series, the Berea Mail will highlight these NPOs and the important conservation work they do.

FIGHTING an upstream battle against a constant tide of plastic waste is the team at Adopt-a-River. The group works to keep solid waste out of the Umgeni River that leads into the Indian Ocean off Durban’s coast.

“We collect more than 1000 bags of waste a month, on average,” said founder, Janet Simpkins.

“We are now at the stage where we separate the PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), so plastic bottles are separated and processed differently to the waste that goes off to landfill. Plastic is sent to a recycling centre and the money earned from this goes back into the team,” added Simpkins.

Collecting waste is no easy task as the Adopt-a-River team tackles hard-to-reach areas that would otherwise become gathering spots for debris.

“We try to keep the river mouth clear of waste, which comes down constantly. When that is clear, the team moves into the mangroves. Trapped in the foliage is layer upon layer of plastic bottles that get stuck there.

Also read: Swimmer dives into ocean conservation ahead of Philocoly Trail

“When the rising tide of water comes, it releases the bottles. If you stand on the bridge and look down, it’s devastating to see. It’s a difficult, almost inaccessible place to get to. The slope is steep and then it becomes a marsh-like mangrove area. It’s not pleasant. You can’t take a whole lot of people out there as you would with a beach clean-up. The team also reports sewage leaks and does water testing where they collect water samples which we sent send to a lab,” explained Simpkins.

“We also assist Clean Blue Lagoon with organising its monthly clean-ups. That’s where we help the community get involved and learn about what’s happening here at the mouth of the Umgeni River,” she added.

Creating jobs through conservation

“The team members are from the local community and they are flexible, so we can adjust workdays around weather and work projects we are involved with. The team is offered opportunities to take short courses in environmental training. They have all been on a first aid course and water safety course. We have also done bio-monitoring. Skills development is important to us,” said Simpkins.

She added that the initiative was born out of the 2018 campaign: Save Our Rivers, which she spearheaded. Simpkins was inspired to start her conservation work after corporate company, ADreach contacted her.”The company is up in Joburg and I am here in Durban. The aim was to try and investigate from Pietermaritzburg, through the catchments, down to Durban along the river system of the well known Duzi Marathon,” she said.

Also read: ‘Step up’ for ocean conservation with trail walk

Concerns about the water quality on the route were raised and Simpkins was tasked with finding a solution.
“We started with research. I interacted with a whole lot of organisations that were already in place. It grew from there. We know the issues at hand and there are lots of people working toward solving it. The more involved I got, the more my network grew. I couldn’t walk away, I knew too much. We realised that there were some issues, like sewage pollution, that we couldn’t tackle. Some of the tangible problems we could address were solid waste. We created a team which has been here for two years now,” she said.

The Philocoly Trail

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted sponsorship for Adopt-a-River, said Simpkins.
“We came back to work in Level 4 as essential workers. The team has steadily continued with the work. The area where it has had an impact is the number of sponsors that would have gotten involved. I know a lot of business have been hit hard and cut budgets, which is understandable. I am extremely grateful our sponsors, ADreach, Masakhe Media and Tufbag that have been able to continue supporting use,” she said.

The Philocoly Trail has gone a long way in supporting the NPO, added Simpkins.
“We are so grateful to be selected as on of the beneficiaries for the Philocoly Trail. We appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to more people and participate in the trail walk. It is really sad to see how polluted those northern beaches are. I expected those beaches to be pristine and they weren’t. It goes to show what a big, connected ocean we have and how the smallest bit of plastic reaches everywhere,” she said.

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