Morningside resident puts river spruit first
Morningside resident Floyd Nyai talks about what inspired him to start an initiative dedicated to cleaning around water bodies.
Plastics and the natural environment go together like water and oil.
Plastics and litter tend to stand out in open, green spaces – such as along the Braamfontein Spruit bridging Morningside to the Bryanston East community.
Inspired by a love for cleanliness, Morningside resident Floyd Nyai said he founded Hlanzekile River and Ocean Cleaning as his vehicle for cleaning up and around water bodies as well as raising awareness on the dangers of plastic pollution on rivers, and educating the youth about these.
Hlanzekile River and Ocean Cleaning was founded last year and began its operations along the Braamfontein Spruit.
“Being a resident of Morningside, I would pass through the Braamfontein Spruit every morning – and there was just this one piece of plastic which bothered me for months,” Nyai said. “I run a cleaning company along with my sister. Cleaning being my background, I was at a point in my career where I wanted to give back to my community. That’s how the operation started.”
Volunteers have since collected more than 4 800kg of waste through collaborative efforts with the Bryanston East Community Forum (BECF). “We work hand-in-hand with the BECF. Every Saturday, we collect waste in our reusable bags, which are collected every Monday and taken to the local dumping site.”
Nyai praised the forum for its generous donations as well as for the time community members volunteered towards cleaning up the spruit. For Nyai, however, the clean-up is just as important as raising awareness among the youth of Johannesburg about the significance of keeping the planet’s water bodies clean. “I think that if we can educate them, and make them aware of the issues at hand; if we target the youth, we’d be off to a good start.”
Nyai intended to expand operations beyond the Braamfontein Spruit this September.
“We’re planning on starting educational workshops for the youth in Soweto to teach them the negative impacts of plastic pollution. We’ll be working closely with the Hector Pieterson Museum. We’ve started with rivers. One day, we want to stop the pollution of oceans.”
Related articles: Rivonia community clean up their streets
World Cleanup Day commemorated
