IN February of this year, the Eco-Team at Manning Road Methodist Church reached a milestone of collecting and recycling 100 000 glass bottles over a period of 28 and a half months, in an effort to encourage church members and local residents to collect recyclable materials and make the area a more eco-conscious neighbourhood.
Richard Neville from the Manning Road Methodist Church Eco-Team says the initiative began in October of 2020, and their new goal is to collect 150 000 glass bottles by the end of August 2023. Neville says that the Eco-Team collects bottles from around Durban and receives donations from local residents. “Manning Road Methodist Church members donate bottles, we also pick them up from Bulwer Park and areas in Durban North, and we’ve got our regular donors who bring in bottles from all over Durban.”
In addition to collecting glass bottles, the Manning Road Methodist Church Eco-Team collects plastic, cardboard, paper and aluminium tins and cans. “By the end of June this year, we reached a milestone of taking one ton of recyclable items out of the landfill. It took us 18 months to collect that amount. We started our collection from January 2023 and took the materials to be recycled at the end of June.”
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Neville says they have set a new goal for December of this year. “From July to December, our goal is to take 525kg out of the system.”
If you would like to donate recyclable materials to assist the Manning Road Methodist Church Eco-Team in reaching their goals, you can bring them to Manning Road Methodist Church at the corner of Manning Road and Moore Road in Glenwood. For more information, contact the church at 031 202 8262.
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