MORE than 5 200 volunteers removed 22 871kg of rubbish from KZN’s shores spanning almost 400km during the International Coastal Clean-up Day recently.
This was reported by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Plastics South Africa, which found that these numbers indicate a serious plastic pollution problem in the area.
The beach clean-up yielded 13 784 takeaway cups, plates and containers; 7 621 cigarette butts; 7 493 lids and caps; 10 112 wrappers; 11 202 tiny shards of plastic; 9 094 bottles; and 1 178 plastic knives and forks, among other items.
Fifty-one straws, 11 fireworks, 421 plastic bags and 971 cans were also found.
Last year 31 267kg of rubbish was collected, and in 2013 a whopping 34 tons was cleared.
But larger pieces of plastic were not the province’s only problems.
University of KwaZulu-Natal marine expert Dr Deborah Robertson-Andersson said that the university’s School of Life Sciences found in a study that in fish samples taken from Durban Harbour, Vetch’s Pier, Isipingo and the uMngeni and Mdloti river mouths, 77% of them, mainly horse mackerel from Vetch’s Pier, contained tiny plastic fibres, fragments and beads.
In a paper published this year in the Marine Pollution Bulletin written by UKZN marine scientists Trishan Naidoo and David Glassom and the University of the Western Cape’s Albertus Smit, microplastics were a huge cause for concern.
The researchers found that most of the plastic found in the course of their study of five urban estuaries –in the province had been ‘fragmented material from the disintegration of larger plastic items’.
Litter
To deal with the litter problem in the area, residents are urged to use the bins provided by the municipality.
This waste will then be collected, sorted and all recyclable items will be sent to the various recycling centres in the area.
Information taken from IOL.
