Volunteers tackle illegal dumping on Beachway
Spearheaded by Enviro Fixers, volunteers picked up rubbish and helped prepare flower beds to uplift the section of the road.
GREEN-FINGERED volunteers joined forces with local NPO, Enviro Fixers Durban North to clean-up and beautify a section of Beachway affected by illegal dumping last week.
Spearheaded by Enviro Fixers, who safeguard the north Durban neighbourhood and environment by replacing alien invader plants with indigenous plants, volunteers picked up rubbish and helped prepare flower beds to uplift the section of the road.
Helen Koch of the organisation said the lower section of Beachway, where a pedestrian foot bridge crosses over to Fairway, had recently seen an increase in illegal dumping.
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“We had more than 50 bags of rubbish just cleaning the areas closest to the footbridge and the M4 boundary fence where people had illegally dumped. In large part this project which will take place over several days was brought to our attention by fellow Enivro Fixers member, Shirley Holmes. She’d noticed how popular this path had become with residents and their families. So the idea was to reclaim the area, beautify it and pick up all the rubbish.
“The eThekwini Municipality in response to our clean-up has said three concrete bins would now be placed along that section of road. We are also planting a few flower beds to brighten the area and of course we will be planting indigenous. What has been incredible is the plants we are sowing was donated by the community. We haven’t had to buy any items. Some of the trees and plants that will be planted are Erythrina and Aloe pluridens. We’ve also had fabulous support from the community who showed up to the clean up and the Smile and Wave crew have helped us immensely,” Koch said.
Fellow Enviro Fixer member, Shirley Holmes, said in part she hoped the project would uplift the area and encourage others to make use of the walkway and the space.
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“I had noticed when there was a restriction time for working out just how popular this path was.
“Our collective hope is to make this space more accessible and enticing for families to use going forward. We hope through this project it will also curb illegal dumping working similarly to the broken windows theory,” she said.
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