Street Surfers: Award-winning doccie highlights importance of waste pickers

Plastic is everywhere and its presence, while seemingly convenient for our daily lives, is wreaking havoc on our environment, and especially our oceans.

Although we see images of plastic pollution from countries around the world, South Africa is just as guilty and has been ranked as one of the top 20 worst polluters of plastics in the oceans.

It is estimated that every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into South African oceans and environmental groups are concerned that if nothing changes in 30 years’ time, there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish.

To highlight the plight of our environment, Corona and Cape Town-based professional big wave surfer Frank Solomon have joined forces with two Joburg-based waste pickers in a documentary that brings to light the global situation of plastic pollution.

Street Surfers. Picture: Eyeforce

The thought-provoking film, Street Surfers, which aims to educate viewers of the importance of waste pickers, focuses on Solomon travelling to Joburg to meet two exceptional men, Thabo and Mokete, who indirectly serve the environment through recycling as a means of income.

Thabo and Mokete are “street surfers”, and an all too familiar sight for drivers in and around the city’s already congested streets.

These unkempt, dusty guys wind and weave their way through early morning traffic on makeshift vehicles that look like something straight of the Mad Max movie trilogy.

But, as ticked off as locals may become by their presence, these young men with their post-apocalyptic wardrobe and mode of transport are actually serving a greater purpose and could well help prevent the demise our oceans and fish life.

“These guys do an incredible job for the environment, yet they live without access to running water and electricity, things we take for granted. They’re up from 3am and work all the way through to the late afternoon,” said Solomon in a recent statement.

Street Surfers. Picture: Eyeforce

“To earn just R300, these street surfers like Thabo and Mokete need to collect 100kg of plastic. Solomon says that if you do the math on how many bins they’d have to shift through to reach that target, it’ll blow your mind.

“One of the big problems is public awareness. People are often overwhelmed by the problem but if every one of us takes responsibility, by even picking up one piece of litter a day, every day, just think about the difference it would make. Our aim is to explore the issues and fight for change.”

Solomon urges that, at the very least, the government and people should just respect these guys and their contribution to preserving our environment.

This story of new friendships, shared experiences and common interest between individuals that are worlds apart has already won a few prestigious international short film awards and will soon hit SA screens.

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