Eastern Cape seaside communities are starting to take action in the battle against a swathe of plastic waste washing up on our beaches.
At Kwelera village, a smart bin box built from recycled plastic, with seven colourful locally printed bags hanging off the side and a board explaining the beach clean-up project, represents a permanent community strategy.
Beach lovers grab a colourful bag sewn from Da Gama off-cuts, as they head out, and pick up plastic as they go.
On their return, they empty the plastic into the bin, and clip the bag back on the row ready for the next good citizen.
This new project — run by a local group of residents working with the Kwelera National Botanical Garden and SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi), decided the project would run alongside sporadic organised beach cleanups.
The plastic gathered by the “Bag it, bin it, bring it back” project is then taken to a refuse site at the Sanbi complex and collected for recycling by Land of the Living.
Activists are watching closely to see if the new forever available bag-it, bin-it system will change public behaviour and make an impact on the crisis.
Janette Bennett, writer, journalist, sewer and artist, said she was inspired by a project she saw at Cannon Rocks recently.
She said of the Kwelera project: “The bags are being supplied by a few local people.
“The bright and active colour scheme was the result of end cloth used to clean the rollers before another design was printed.
“It was cost-effective, hardy and fun to work with.
“And there were others in the village volunteering to sew the bags.
“We have realised there are many different ways to tackle beach litter — beach cleanups and a project like this are different activities but have the same goal.
“So organised beach clean-ups are effective, but the beauty of the new project is that every single beach visitor can make a difference every single day.”
Kwelera village is within the botanical garden, launched by Sanbi in 2014.
Plastic waste has been an issue, and the botanical garden’s curator, horticulturist Nomama Mei, said the grab-a-bag project was a wonderful addition to the cleanup work already being done by staff.
Bennett said waste arriving on the coast was a mix of local and global — some was litter hurled off ships passing by, some were local brands coming down rivers.
Common items were drinks bottles, containers and plastic teaspoons.
Blue plastic earbuds and the tough neck rings below the lids of plastic bottles are lethal to sea life. The rings get jammed around seabirds’ necks and webbed feet.
Fishing line, broken off when anglers get hooked up, is also found tightly wound around marine animals.
Most of these are “forever” plastics, which never really break down.
They finally become microplastics, which today are being found everywhere, even in human bodies, and pose a silent threat.
The project is only a few days old and the early impacts are positive so far.
Bennett said residents were posting on the village WhatsApp group that the beaches were looking cleaner than before.
Surfer and businessman Darrin Varnfield, 60, a Kwelera village resident for 15 years, is a driver of the project.
He said the villagers had become sick of seeing all the plastic on the beach.
“People want nothing more than to have a bag to pick up plastic.
“This will become a way of life.
“People have been wanting to do something about it and now the facility is right at hand.
“The community is stoked to be setting up the project.
“Kwelera is a jewel on our East Coast and keeping it pristine is a priority on everybody’s mind. Now we can do it.”
He invited any residents along the coast to contact him and his working group.
“We would love to see this happening all along our coast. The interest is there.”
Resident and former Green Scorpions leader Dr Div de Villiers, said: “What has struck me during the seven years that I have called Kwelera home is the community spirit where every resident brings something unique to make the village and its beautiful surroundings a special place to live in.
“Unfortunately, plastic pollution cannot be controlled by the residents because it washes onto the beaches and rocks from far afield, mainly from nearby rivers.
“We know the state does not have the resources to clean the beaches, even though they’re bordered by a national botanical garden.
“But rather than sitting idly criticising the government and allowing litter to accumulate, the community banded together to initiate this cleanup strategy with Sanbi’s support.
“Janette Bennett and Darrin Varnfield were the drivers, but without full community buy-in, such projects eventually fail.
“Kwelera is one of the very few Eastern Cape examples that I know of that truly shows the ubuntu culture.
“It is this united effort that keeps the village clean and beautiful.”— Daily Dispatch
