MORE than 1 000 bags of rubbish were collected in just 18 days by the Adopt-a-River’s ADreach river rangers group. The environmental conservation organisation focuses its cleans ups on the stretch of the uMngeni River, from Connaught Bridge all the way to the river mouth.
Janet Simpkins, founder and director of Adopt-a-River said the team had conducted clean-ups at the river mouth, on the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve bank and had ferried the bags of rubbish to the Blue Lagoon bank in order for DSW to collect and remove.
“The amount of rubbish we’ve collected in such a short space of time is shocking. The river rangers work four days a week and work tirelessly to clean up the area. A lot of the rubbish collected were polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and other items that have flown down river. Unfortunately there isn’t an easy solution to try and stem the tide of rubbish we find but we will keep going with the daily clean-ups,” she said.
Read also: New litter boom to be placed at uMngeni River mouth
Simpkins, who is one of the new organisers behind the #CleanBlueLagoon initiative also encouraged the community of Durban to get behind the first clean-up of the year which takes place on Saturday, 20 February.
“The clean-up coincides with the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve open day. #CleanBlueLagoon clean-ups are community driven and promotes regular involvement in the protection of our rivers and beaches.
“We are hoping the community will join us on the day and all Covid-19 protocols will be adhered to. Even though the Adopt-a-River team has collected more than a thousand bags of rubbish there will still be plenty for us to pick up on the day,” she said.
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