Various role players converged at different parts of the Spruit network, to conduct a clean-up.
They were cleaning up 30+km of the Spruit network which is a river network that runs from Melville, through Parktown, Parkhurst, and other areas up to Greater Kyalami.
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The event closed at the Delta Cafe in Craighall Park on September 17. Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo spokesperson Jenny Moodley said a number of organisations and residents had thrown in their weight to make the All Spruits Clean-up Day a success.
“We all have a moral responsibility to take care of our public open spaces. We have the Green Development Foundation members who are our partners when it comes to tree planting in Joburg. We have the Rotary Club, World Clean-up Day organisers and residents’ associations who have also contributed.”
Moodley invited some of the participants to join in planting a tree outside the Delta Cafe where attendees were gathered, before proceedings.
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Rotary New Dawn president Julian Nagy said many of their Rotary clubs were part of the EndPlasticSoup initiative.
“Their objective is to ensure that there is no plastic in our seas, rivers and natural environment by 2050. This is because all this plastic gets round up and ends up as litter in the sea. Hopefully, we will understand why the problem starts here and why what we are doing today is important as we deal with it at the source.”
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Bokashi Bran, owner Bronwyn Jones, said food waste is considered the third-largest contributing factor to global warming. She explained that when food waste is dumped in a dustbin, it gets compacted with other waste; it then goes and generates methane and gas in a landfill site.
Jones explained, “Methane gas is 84 times more harmful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. For every tonne of food waste that goes to a landfill site, 627kg of carbon dioxide equivalent is released into the atmosphere.
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If one tonne of that same food is composted, less than 10kg of carbon dioxide is emitted. So, it’s a saving of 98% more carbon footprint in composting. We are running out of landfill space and it’s a freight train that will hit us soon.” She encouraged all to rather compost their food waste.
Organiser Babette Gallard thanked the African Reclaimers Organisation who had taken away all the waste and sorted it out and City Parks for contributing a truck and a podium.
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Adding to that, co-organiser Paul Chinn thanked the Scout groups, schools and volunteer groups that participated, as well as sponsors Beagle Watch for putting green teams and security groups and Rotary clubs. The National School of Arts Choir rendered musical items throughout the closing event.
Watch the video below to see how the day went:
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