HIGHWAY College has welcomed environmental organisations and companies into the area to join them in their effort to clean up the area surrounding their school. The school has been faced with litter surrounding its grounds due to a rise in homeless people staying in the school’s vicinity.
The school’s health and safety officer, Allison Reddy, said this has been a major concern. “Having homeless people this close raises safety concerns for the schoolchildren, staff members and general public. There is litter everywhere, and the homeless people sleep here, too – it is not the type of environment we would like to expose the learners to,” said Reddy.
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The resource manager, Allan Reddy, said they have been dealing with this for a number of years.
In the quest to solve this problem, they have decided to partner up with organisations such as Pinetown Tidy Town, previously known as Keep Pinetown Beautiful, to join them in their clean-ups.
We have had it under control for many years, but it’s becoming a daily concern. We have decided to put yet another fence around the school, and that’s when we saw needles and all kinds of litter. It is not good for the school, for the environment and our town,” he said.
Highway College principal Gavin Brophy said they have had to add fencing around the school for more security. He echoed the sentiments to partner with Pinetown Tidy Town.
“This will also impart a lesson to our learners to take responsibility for their area. We cannot leave everything in the hands of authorities – we live in these places, and they are our responsibility. This partnership will help spread this message about our situation and teach our learners and the general public,” said Brophy.
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Pinetown Tidy Town’s Zane Walensky said they are always open to working with the community.
“Our organisation knows there are many avenues needing to be explored where we may clean up, green up, create pride again, and help create safer and happier homes and workplaces. This means there are several ways to achieve these goals, including and especially partnering up with individuals, local businesses, interest groups, churches and schools, both junior and senior. As we are growing, we are finding an open-door approach to helping each other. This is a ‘People helping people’ approach from the Pinetown Tidy Town initiative,” he said.
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