Cape Town - With plastic flowing into the natural environment at an unprecedented rate, new innovative solutions were being implemented to reduce the impact of plastic pollution in Cape Town beaches.
One method being taken up was the instalment of litter nets at stormwater outlets near beaches in Sea Point.
This trial project was spearheaded by the local non-profit Pristine Earth Collective (PEC), which maintained the nets and supplied the manpower, together with Shark Spotters, which manufactured the nets, and the City to ultimately reduce the amount of litter being discharged on to the beaches.
PEC director George van der Schyff said they were seeing roughly eight bags of waste being collected on a daily basis in the the first eight nets installed in Sea Point, this was a mix between organic waste (leaves and twigs) and post-consumer packaging.
“We are probably looking at about seven to 10 kilos of waste being intercepted just on this these local Sea Point beaches.
“I’m a surfer but I'm also a dad, and I just literally could not take my my 1-year-old on to the beach without him picking up any litter or waste. Our coastlines need all the help we can get; these nets act as our last line of defence,” said Van der Schyff.
Shark Spotters project manager Sarah Waries agreed, and said the most important thing was to stop pollution at the source and stop polluting the environment.
Depending on the outcomes of this trial, spatial planning and environment Mayco member Eddie Andrews said the City and its partners may look to expand the project to other areas along the city’s coastline.
Van der Schyff explained that they got local stakeholders on board to fund clean-up projects. These funds were then used to employ youth from Gugulethu to clean four days a week, and then clean one day a week in their own communities to ensure a reciprocal employment model.
The workers would be the manpower behind the success of the litter net project in Sea Point by maintaining, repairing, and clearing the nets four days a week.
Last year, Waries said they put two litter traps up in Sea Point, but their design meant they needed a lot of manpower to maintain on a daily basis otherwise they got full and even damaged, depending on the swell of the ocean.
