Jobless residents from the Garden Route town of Knysna were roped in to clean its beaches and estuary as part of a pollution clean-up project initiated by SANParks.

During the project, the teams collected 148 recycled bags of rubbish and 238 black bags.

Major litter items collected around the estuary were cigarette butts, cooldrink lids, glass bottles and sweet packets. About 514 cans, 419 water bottles, 313 chips packets, 296 glass bottles, 257 carrier bags, 238 cooldrink lids, 128 earbuds and 194 cigarette butts were collected.

According to the Cape Argus, seven teams, each made up of 10-12 members, focussed on clearing waste that could have ended up in the estuary. Five main stormwater channels which are linked to the estuary were also targeted. The catchment areas of the Bigai River (Hornlee), the Bongani River (Khayalethu) and the Salt River were cleaned as well.

Also read: Seeing dirty beaches inspired a 10-year-old to make a change

SANParks spokesperson Scott Ronaldson said they had also been working well with the municipality’s solid waste department which sent a truck to collect the bags of waste daily.

Check out the next beach cleanup in celebration of World Wetlands Day in Knysna:

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I’m very excited to announce that I have partnered with The Knysna Basin Project, SANparks Honourary Rangers, The Strandloper’s Project, Ocean Odyssey and others to bring you KNYSNA UNLITTERED – an initiative to clean up Knysna! We will be hosting 4-5 clean ups throughout 2020 and each one will be in theme with an important environmental day. Join us for our first clean up in honour of World Wetlands Day on February 8th at the Thesen Harbour Jetties. Its going to be a whole lot of fun so make sure to bring your friends and family ’cause it’s time to get active for our planet! #knysnaunlittered #cleanup #worldwetlandsday #cleanupouroceans #cleanupknysna

A post shared by Sahara Thagunna (@saharathagunna) on Jan 20, 2020 at 1:22am PST

Ronaldson said they were making progress around the estuary and commended restaurants at the popular Knysna Waterfront for their use of eco-straws instead of plastic straws.

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