On July 28, The Clean Heidelberg group started cleaning up the empty piece of land on Jacobs Street, just opposite the library.
When walking through the open stand, it is concerning to see what certain community members are throwing away, and not putting in bags, rubbish bins or even taking to rubbish dumps.
On the open piece of ground there was a lot of broken glass, windscreens, cellphone parts, used cellphone covers and screen protectors, bottles, soiled baby nappies, as well as a huge pile of oranges.
It is also clear vagrants are sleeping in the open fields near the trees as bedding and blankets were found there as well.
Every week the Clean Heidelberg group goes out and cleans an area in Heidelberg of their own accord, but the next week the same spots are strewn with rubbish again.
A concerned citizen stopped by and said, “We do come and clean the area quite often but when we look again it is full of rubbish.”
One of the Clean Heidelberg volunteers, Francois van Jaarsveld said, “The way I see it we are cleaning Heidelberg one paper at a time.
“We need more of the community involved to make a greater impact and we need to keep Heidelberg clean and tidy.”
“To change habits and help the environment needs to be a community joint effort,” said Charlotte Cloete, Clean Heidelberg spokesperson.
“We need to leave a cleaner and safer environment for the next generation.”
