Thumbs up for system that traps waste

The newly installed litter catchment system in the Hennops River in Centurion was tried and tested after the first rainfall last week which resulted in it catching more than 1 000 black bags of litter in a matter of days.

Founder of the Hennops Revival Organisation Tarryn Johnston said the catchment system worked as planned.

On Monday, Johnston and her team removed 322 black bags of litter and 320 more on Tuesday. She said the litter catchment system was cleaned of 425 bags of waste and numerous trees between Monday and Thursday last week.

She said the rain on Thursday night and Friday morning brought the next load of everything that should not be in the river, down.

“I saw the proof of concept right before my eyes. Loads of trees, plastics, polystyrene, shoes, lots of sticks and garden leaves, branches caught in the phase.

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“In the second phase, they removed another big tree. I don’t even know how it came past the first phase. It hooked somehow and lifted the whole trap and wedged there and lifted high level,” said Johnston.

“In the third phase we found more plastic, polystyrene chips, chip packets and shoes.” Johnston said they also found two dead dogs in the river.

“As much as we’ve caught, we really need many more of these traps. Yes, we have caught a lot but a lot has also still gone through, over and under some of the traps. It’s phenomenal how much has gone past and how much was caught.”

Last week’s rain was the first opportunity to test the catchment system and she was happy to report it was a fully functional.

Johnston said she wanted to get more installed upstream.

“An endless gratitude goes to Brand IQ Outdoor Advertising and Vertical Specialist for the sponsorship of the design, the materials and the implementation of the First Hennops Revival litter catchment system.”