Plastic is not fantastic
Another sad discovery was the tangled clumps of fishing line and tackle in-between the seaweed.
It is estimated that up to 13 million metric tons of plastic ends up in the ocean each year – the equivalent of a rubbish or garbage truck load every minute.
Fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals can become entangled in or ingest plastic debris, causing suffocation, starvation and drowning.
Rob Bromfield from Banana Beach recently took her dogs for a walk and was shocked to discover miles of plastic bottles washed-up along the coastline between Sunwich Port and Anerley.
She posted photographs on the KZN Tidy Towns Whatsapp group.
It didn’t take long before some active residents leaped into action and organised a clean-up for last Saturday morning before the rubbish was washed back into the ocean.
The old saying ‘many hands make light work’ was certainly not the case on Saturday – only five people pitched, but, within a few hours heaps of plastic were bagged and carried off the beach.
Another sad discovery was the tangled clumps of fishing line and tackle in-between the seaweed.
If you would like to get involved, volunteer or donate towards Tidy Towns Sea Park to Banana Beach, contact Cindy on 082 5504368.
On the south side of the coast, Sophia Nel of Margate, together with her sons, went down to the beach last Sunday morning and discovered rubbish in the parking area at Shad Bay.
“Two cars were seen parked there the day before. The occupants were enjoying themselves with loud music, drinking alcohol and left all their rubbish in the bushes. We were disgusted. It was not nice to watch them using the bushes at the roadside as a public toilet and behaving like hooligans. They even lit a fire and did their braai there as well,” she said.
One can call and report this behaviour to Law Enforcement on 039 688 2252 or 076 2827973.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
