THE Clean Blue Lagoon (CBL) hosted a clean-up on Saturday honouring the passing of volunteer Samantha Deale.
“CBL is nothing without the volunteers especially the regular one,” said CBL organiser Dale Johnson.
He said he fondly remembers being wowed by Deale and her group of friends at her first clean-up, so much so that he asked to take a picture of her and her friends for promotional work.
Many volunteers turned up to commemorate Deale’s passing as well as address the current environmental crisis. Johnson called the day a critical clean-up and one of the worst incidence they have seen in a while. He attributed the terrible state of the Blue Lagoon and Beachwood Mangroves to the recent Durban storm and nurdle crisis.
Read more: Durban beaches awash with toxic nurdles
The nurdles, according to experts, absorb pollutants such as PCBs and organochlorine pesticides which are harmful to both marine life and humans if consumed. What’s more, the nurdles never disintegrate but merely break down into smaller and smaller fragments.
Both the nurdles and the toxins, once absorbed can enter the food chain as they are eaten by fish and other marine animals.
“Coming here is overwhelming and disheartening, this is only what we can see, it’s a joke to think we will even make a dent in this situation. This is just a couple of square metres what about the rest of our coastline?,” said volunteer, Sonya Keyser.
She added: “”
Volunteer Marion Wicks saw the clean-up as learning curve for her volunteer son Murray Wicks (9) adding: “It is an important start, it teaches him about the environment he grows up in, recycling and why it is important.”
Also watch: Litter booms lead the fight against pollution
She said Murray’s participation has encouraged him to invite his friends to the next clean-up. According to Johnson approximately 900 bags of refuse was collected on Saturday.
He credits the record number of bags collected to a combined effort by CBL volunteers and the Durban Partnership against Pollution (DPaPP).
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