Westville women keep streets litter-free
"Some people see us as crazy old women but others stop and thank us."
THE claim that there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050, is one of the reasons three dedicated women from Westville pick up litter every morning. The three wildlife lovers, including a 91-year-old, walk about 3km from Monday to Friday to pick up litter in different streets.
Sue Smith said they have been picking up litter for a couple of years now.
“We always go out at about 6am but before I retired, I use to wake up early to go out at 5.30am. We like to walk and it is then that you see the litter in the roads which you do not notice much when you are driving.”
Sue said people should stop littering in the roads, “besides that it not a pretty sight, it is also a health hazard and the litter gets blown away into the drains and end up in the ocean,” she said.
Another wildlife lover, Jenny Le Roux said they each fill up a grocery plastic bag every morning and sometimes even two.
“The litter we normally come across are glass and plastic bottles, takeaways containers, newspapers, packets of chips and cigarette butts.”
“Some people see us as crazy old women but others stop and thank us. We hope that people will think twice before throwing rubbish on the roads and take responsibility,” said Le Roux.
The three jolly women said they have not come across anything strange or weird when picking up litter but Le Roux recalled coming across pink underwear. The women said they fill a black plastic bag with all the plastics they collect during the week.
“We recycle most of our litter,” said Smith.
Hermine Goldsmith (91) said she cannot stand seeing litter lying on the roads. “Lots of litter get thrown from car windows.”
Goldsmith said as long as she can still walk, she will continue picking up the rubbish. The trio also do beach and river clean-ups regularly.
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