On the back of a 6% year-on-year increase in the recycling of PET plastic bottles, SA's national industry body has unveiled its 2019 recycling champions. These people and organisations are making strides in sustainability at grassroots level. The annual awards were made across 11 categories, with Western Cape winners scooping nine awards, followed by Gauteng with two, and … [Read more...]
India’s top beach destination commits to #BeatPlasticPollution
Goa, a small state on the west coast of India, is known for its pristine beaches, forests, adventure sports and rich marine life. The picturesque region attracts 5 million tourists every year from all parts of the world. This influx is key to the local economy, but it also generates 600 tonnes of waste on a daily basis. Tourists enjoying the beautiful land of “sun, sea and … [Read more...]
Our responsibility to keep plastic from becoming trash
Plastic. Love it. Freaking hate it. Plastic is fantastic. Plastic pollutes. Ban it. Rethink it. Redesign it. Use it. Refuse it. One thing is for sure though: We will never get away from plastic. The keyboard I type this on is proof of that. Glass. Plastic. Pretty much the only 2 options you have really (and metal). Glass is cool. It breaks. It’s heavy (think about the … [Read more...]
Turning the tide on plastic waste at KZN beach clean-ups
Thousands of bags filled with litter were prevented from entering the sea off the KwaZulu-Natal coast this past month thanks to various beach-clean ups organized by the Plastics|SA Sustainability Division. According to Douw Steyn, Sustainability Director at Plastics|SA, a staggering amount of litter made its way down the Umgeni river recently after heavy rains and was … [Read more...]
Blue army mobilises to nurdle disaster
On the 19th of October 2017, during a particularly intense storm, 2 ships collided in Durban Harbour and at least 49 tons of plastic nurdles were lost into the Port from the MSC Susanna and subsequently into the ocean. This is the largest plastic pollution event in South Africa’s history, with over 2 000 000 000 plastic pellets being released. The initial response to this … [Read more...]
Coastal clean-up initiative sees record number of participants
This past weekend saw the 21st year in which South Africa participated in the International Coastal Clean-Up (ICC) – an annual event that has become the biggest, global volunteer effort for ocean health. “We coordinated more than 400 beach clean-up points around the Cape and 40 in KZN in partnership with the KZN Marine Waste Network members on Saturday alone. This excludes … [Read more...]
Let’s Do It! coastal clean-up initiative comes to Africa
Covering nearly 1,500 kilometres of the South African coastline, with a number of nodal clean-ups to be implemented from Melkbosstrand in the west, to Ballito on the east coast of South Africa, the inaugural ‘Big Clean-up’ – a network of participating organisations and volunteer groups – will deliver a wave of change to our shores this International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICC), … [Read more...]
Annual clean-up competition urges schools to recycle
Schools around the country stand a chance to once again win big prizes in Plastics|SA’s annual schools competition, entitled “Let’s do it … Let’s Clean-Up South Africa!” According to Douw Steyn, Director: Sustainability at Plastics|SA, the aim of this national competition is to educate and encourage schools, communities, businesses and organisations to play their part in … [Read more...]
Glass bottles and paper take-away bags ruin our beaches
Glass bottles and pieces and paper bags have taken over from PET bottles and bottle caps as macro pollutants on Cape beaches. This according to the results of the 20th International Coastal Clean-Up (ICC) that took place on Saturday 17 September. The ICC is an annual event and one of the highlights of the industry’s Clean-Up and Recycle Week SA. This year’s event was … [Read more...]
World’s biggest volunteer effort for ocean health
More and more people are pitching in to clean our beaches. This past Saturday (17 September 2016) was the 20th year that South Africa participated in the annual International Coastal Clean-Up. Coordinators, volunteers and sponsors who participated in this year’s event, described it as one as the biggest and the best since South Africa officially became part of the … [Read more...]
Cleaning up Robben Island for International Coastal Clean-up Day
This past week (12-17 September 2016) marked Clean-up & Recycle SA week, the aim of the week is to increase awareness in South Africans of the many benefits of recycling (socially, environmentally and economically) and the importance of a litter-free environment. This year, we celebrated the twentieth year of South Africa’s active participation in the International … [Read more...]
SA coastline gets thousands of loving hands-on cleaners
SA joined the biggest volunteer effort for ocean health in 1996. This year's International Coastal Clean-Up Day was the best ever, said coordinators, sponsors and volunteers who participated in this important work this month. This annual event was initiated by the Ocean Conservancy in 1986 and has grown with more than 100 countries participating in cleaning up their coastal … [Read more...]
Collective efforts needed to reduce plastic litter in the oceans
“South Africa has what it takes to become one of the world leaders in reducing the amount of litter that ends up in our oceans. Not only do we possess some of the most beautiful, diverse and dramatic coastlines in the world – teeming with a wide variety of different marine animals – but we also have private individuals, companies, research institutions and government … [Read more...]
