Plastics SA, the industry association which represents the South African plastics industry, has reported that the 2023 Clean-Up and Recycling SA Week was a “huge success”.
Sustainability Director Douw Steyn said the annual event, which took place from the 11th – 16th of September, brought together communities, organisations and individuals from across the nation to tackle plastic pollution and promote responsible recycling.
“This year’s event has been an incredible success and it was once again encouraging to see how South Africans from all walks of life, ages and backgrounds united to clean up our environment. Despite the fact that cold and stormy weather, and an unusual spring tide plagued most of the country’s coastline on International Coastal Clean-up Day (Saturday, 16 September, 2023), there was still a good turn out on beaches around the country by volunteers eager to do their bit to help remove litter from our beaches.”
Throughout September, and especially during the week-long initiative, Plastics SA supported numerous clean-up efforts to clean up SA’s beaches, rivers, streets, and public spaces by donating more than 700 000 bright yellow refuse bags, as well as clean-up toolkits consisting of gloves, rakes, spades, T-shirts and gumboots to clean-up teams. Plastics SA also collaborated with recycling and waste management partners to collect the waste after the clean-ups.
“The highlights of the week were undoubtedly, again, National River Clean-up Day, on 13 September, as well as our continued involvement in the Inkwazi Isu River Catchment Project aimed at improved waste management and recycling in Durban,” Steyn said.
