Over 50 volunteers clean up at Parkview Golf Club
More than 50 volunteers made their way to the Parkview Golf Club and removed waste from the Spruit River.
Living in Joburg can be difficult and sometimes depressing, but World Clean-up Day on September 16, confirmed that community power can move mountains and transform trash-filled landscapes. With some hefty organisation on the part of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn, 2 000 plus volunteers from over 100 organisations (including Leeuwkop Prison) joined in a mass clean-up from Soweto in the south to Diepsloot in the north and from Alberts Farm in the west to Bruma Park in the east. With the data available so far, it is estimated that 25 tonnes of waste were removed from Johannesburg’s streets, parks and rivers in this single day.
At Parkview Golf Club, over 50 volunteers from Greenside High School, Greenside Resident’s Association, (GRA) and members from the Rotary Club of New Dawn (which holds weekly meetings in the clubhouse) removed waste from the Spruit River that runs directly through the centre. “The worst is the polystyrene from the fast food containers,” one volunteer reported. “It breaks into tiny pieces and is almost impossible to remove. I hadn’t thought about that until now.”
World Clean-up Day was started in 2008 by a group of young volunteers in Estonia who brought people together to clean up litter and waste in their communities. Since then, it has become a global movement but not a one-day wonder because it inspires lasting change by promoting awareness and sustainable waste management practices for implantation all year round.
“We must safeguard the natural environment and strengthen our city’s response to the waste management problem. United with local communities, we believe we can make a meaningful difference, leave a legacy of hope, and sustain a cleaner future for generations to come,” said Mbali Zulu, president of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn.
Head of geography at Greenside High School Paula Tedder said they were approached by Rotary and the Greenside Residents Association to assist with the river clean-up, as part of World Clean-up Day. Twenty learners and eight staff members spent their morning cleaning the Braamfontein Spruit. “It was a tiring, but rewarding time. The river was full of litter, ranging from clothing to carpets, to car seat covers to plastic bottles and thousands of pieces of polystyrene. After a couple of hours, we could appreciate our efforts as the spruit looked pristine once again. Yes, we made a small dent in the litter problem that our rivers endure, but we still made a difference, and are proud of our efforts,” said Tedder.
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