South Africa

2018 International Coastal Cleanup: South Africa.

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South Africa – 2018 International Coastal Cleanup Report.

Robben Island Cleanup. Jackie Wernberg.

For more than two decades, on every third Saturday in September, South Africans have joined

thousands of other volunteers globally with the common goal of collecting and documenting the trash

littering their coastline.

Plastics SA, as the South African plastics industry body, has proven throughout this period that its

concern for the leakage of plastics to the sea is not just an awareness project but transforming actions

into words.

The 2018 International Coastal Cleanup in South Africa.

The Marine Conservation Community lost a brilliant champion and Kwazulu

Natal ICC Coordinator, only a few weeks prior to the event, due to a motorcycle

accident. Caroline Reid was a generous individual with an inquisitive mind

and a caring soul. We will miss her and her infectious laughter.

Apart from incredible individuals such as Caroline, what makes the ICC

successful?

Three quarters of time spend for the International

Coastal Cleanup is dedicated to pre event

logistics. Logistics that consist of obtaining bags,

gloves and other support material to ensuring the

material gets to the 400 coordinators nationwide.

The South African Coastline is 2 500km long and

this report looks at the clean-ups that occurred in the period

during September with the lion’s share of these activities

occurring within the week prior and on the 15th of the month.

2018 International Coastal Cleanup: South Africa.

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This paragraph is from the 2017 ICC report and it is just as

applicable this year.

“The maturity of coastal clean-ups, as measured in weekly and

monthly actions, is having a domino effect on clean-ups away

from waterways. Never before has there been such a focus on

the presence of waste material in the South African environment

by a swelling number of organisations and individuals. It is

wonderful to have so many more voices speaking out about the presence of material littered, dumped,

improper waste management and a lack of recycling facilities”.

Sadly, the symptom and not the ill leading to the material found in the environment is the target of a

large proportion of these voices.

Poverty is unquestionably the primary reason for waste finding its way into the environment in South

Africa.

4 300 Km covered to distribute material and arrange logistics over a four-week period.

50 000 Refuse bags distributed during the period of September.

10 800 Sets of gloves provided.

80 Buckets and 85 Garden Rakes provided by Addis.

Total of R 26 000 spend on chartering various vessels by PETCO.

R 30 000 worth of Pick n Pay Gift Cards distibuted.

R 30 000 Sponsorship of transport, branded clothing, etc. from Kelpak sponsorship provided.

2018 International Coastal Cleanup: South Africa.

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2018 Volunteer Numbers

Northern Cape 1 078

Audited Clean-ups

Non Audited Clean-ups

790

288

Western Cape 9 381

Audited Clean-ups

Non Audited Clean-ups

2 476

6 905

Eastern Cape 6 351

Audited Clean-ups

Non Audited Clean-ups

1 867

4 484

Kwazulu Natal More than 2 753

Audited Clean-Ups

Non Audited Clean-Ups

2 753

Not available due to death of Caroline

Total for South Africa – 19 563 volunteers.

RESULTS. Some interesting observations from the 2018 data.

• 241 425 Items were collected nationally in audited clean-ups.

• Asthma pumps is the most prolific item found of medicinal origin in the three Cape provinces. In

Kwazulu Natal, this is replaced by disposable syringes, especially in urban clean-ups.

• Looking at items collected per person, The Eastern Cape has produced the most waste collected. (N

Cape – 650 g per person, W Cape – 1,4 kg pp, E Cape – 2 kg pp and KZN – 1,2 Kg pp)

• The improper disposal of one-use baby nappies has shown again an increase. Disposable Baby

Nappies outside Informal Settlements are on the increase. For example, in one roadside clean-up

outside the Mthata Airport, 48 nappies was collected. In the small town of Elim, 86 adult nappies was

collected which was dumped in an area renowned for illegal dumping

• Nationally we collected ± 2, 5 km. of rope/string and 2, 8 km. of monofilament line (fishing line).

Site data is available at http://www.coastalcleanupdata.org/

2018 International Coastal Cleanup: South Africa.

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People, Kilograms and Kilometres

Land Clean-ups

Number of people 11 677 Non-audited clean-ups and 7 886 audited clean-ups. Total: 19 563. Weight of debris cleaned >9,532 Tons* Distance cleaned >204,7 Km* Number of bags filled >3 124* Underwater Clean-ups

Number of people 43* Weight of debris cleaned 186 Kg* Distance cleaned 500 Meter* Number of bags filled 47*

*Does not include non-audited clean-up data.

Top ten items collected in 2018 nationally.

Sponsors Without the commitment of our partners listed below, these initiatives would not have been possible.

In a time of harsh economic conditions, when companies find themselves having to rethink supporting

projects such as these, it is encouraging to see the continued commitment from them.

Main sponsors: Kelpak, Pick n Pay, Toyota Algoa Bay UNITRANS, Plastics|SA, PETCO (PET Recycling Company). Other sponsors: POLYCO (Polyolefin Recycling Company), SAVA (SA Vinyls Association) and PSPC (Polystyrene Packaging Council of SA), Packaging, Engen, Tuffy Manufacturing, , Woolworths, ABI, National Recycling Forum, Glass Recycling Company, Collect-a-Can, Paper Recycling Association of SA, Tetrapak, ROSE Foundation, Brand SA, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Department of Environmental Affairs.

50257

33794

31643

17327

13744

10738

9071

9023

7873

6043

0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000

Plastic Pieces

Foam Pieces

Cigarette filters

Bottle Caps (Plastics)

Food wrappers (candy, chips, etc)

Beverage Bottles (Plastic)

Straws/plastic sticks

Glass pieces

Beverage bottles (glass)

Other plastic/foam packaging