Armed with refuse bags, more than 30 volunteers braved the chilly weather in East London yesterday and cleaned up the popular Nahoon Beach – collecting 25 bags of rubbish.
The cleanup was organised by Dean Knox, a local surfer and environmental educator, and took place at various sections along the beach including the Nahoon River, the Ihlanza River and the stretch of beach leading up to Bat’s Cave.
When the Dispatch arrived just after 10am there were already groups of men, women and children hard at work.
One of the beach cleaners in the Bat’s Cave area, Pennie Talbot, said she believed most of the waste came from ships emptying their waste at sea and the nearby Buffalo City Metro outlet.
“Ships shouldn’t be allowed to empty waste before going into the harbour and BCM needs to better filter the water coming out of their outlet,” said Talbot, adding that much of the waste people flushed down their toilets went out to sea before eventually being washed back onto shore.
There were copious amounts of earbuds [cotton swabs], condom rings, medicine bottles, plastics, sports supplement containers and even shoe soles amongst the waste.
Talbot said she believed banning the use of non-recyclables such as polystyrene containers was an important step to stop the pollution of beaches as such products would not decompose and continue to wash ashore.
Caria Hammond, who was representing recycling company Clariter at the cleanup, said that the environment had become a passion of hers.
She said more cleanups were needed in order to preserve the natural environment.
Hammond said most of the waste she had seen and picked up was plastic.
Knox, who was getting his hands dirty with the rest of the beach cleaners, agreed that most of the waste was plastic products like bottles, bottle caps, condoms, ear buds and nurdles. Nurdles are small plastic pellets, about the size of a BB gun bullet or smaller, used to make a variety of plastic products.
He explained that the most dangerous waste for sea life was what are called micro-plastics which are small pieces of plastic like nurdles and broken down bottle caps.
“Filter feeders will unknowingly consume these tiny pieces of plastic, which contain hazardous chemicals for the creatures and also block their stomachs, preventing them from eating anything else.
“This danger continues up the food chain as a predator eats the filter feeder and a bigger predator eats that one,” he said.
Knox said to effectively collect the nurdles you would need to use a shadecloth sieve and water to go through the sand due to their small size.
He said this would be done at an upcoming beach cleanup planned for later this month. — tylerr@dispatch.co.za
Volunteers brave cold weather to rid East London beach of rubbish
Image: Alan Eason
Armed with refuse bags, more than 30 volunteers braved the chilly weather in East London yesterday and cleaned up the popular Nahoon Beach – collecting 25 bags of rubbish.
The cleanup was organised by Dean Knox, a local surfer and environmental educator, and took place at various sections along the beach including the Nahoon River, the Ihlanza River and the stretch of beach leading up to Bat’s Cave.
When the Dispatch arrived just after 10am there were already groups of men, women and children hard at work.
One of the beach cleaners in the Bat’s Cave area, Pennie Talbot, said she believed most of the waste came from ships emptying their waste at sea and the nearby Buffalo City Metro outlet.
“Ships shouldn’t be allowed to empty waste before going into the harbour and BCM needs to better filter the water coming out of their outlet,” said Talbot, adding that much of the waste people flushed down their toilets went out to sea before eventually being washed back onto shore.
There were copious amounts of earbuds [cotton swabs], condom rings, medicine bottles, plastics, sports supplement containers and even shoe soles amongst the waste.
Talbot said she believed banning the use of non-recyclables such as polystyrene containers was an important step to stop the pollution of beaches as such products would not decompose and continue to wash ashore.
Caria Hammond, who was representing recycling company Clariter at the cleanup, said that the environment had become a passion of hers.
She said more cleanups were needed in order to preserve the natural environment.
Hammond said most of the waste she had seen and picked up was plastic.
Knox, who was getting his hands dirty with the rest of the beach cleaners, agreed that most of the waste was plastic products like bottles, bottle caps, condoms, ear buds and nurdles. Nurdles are small plastic pellets, about the size of a BB gun bullet or smaller, used to make a variety of plastic products.
He explained that the most dangerous waste for sea life was what are called micro-plastics which are small pieces of plastic like nurdles and broken down bottle caps.
“Filter feeders will unknowingly consume these tiny pieces of plastic, which contain hazardous chemicals for the creatures and also block their stomachs, preventing them from eating anything else.
“This danger continues up the food chain as a predator eats the filter feeder and a bigger predator eats that one,” he said.
Knox said to effectively collect the nurdles you would need to use a shadecloth sieve and water to go through the sand due to their small size.
He said this would be done at an upcoming beach cleanup planned for later this month. — tylerr@dispatch.co.za
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