This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup. (Image: Ocean Conservancy)
Brand South Africa has partnered with Plastics SA on this year’s Clean-Up & Recycle campaign. It runs in conjunction with Clean-up South Africa Week, which takes place from 14 to 19 September. Tied into the campaign are Recycling Day South Africa on 18 September and International Coastal Clean-up Day on 19 September.
Recycling Day aims to raise awareness by educating people about the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling. During the coastal clean-up, volunteers remove debris from all bodies of water. The clean-up allows officials to collect valuable information about the rubbish that is dumped; it also heightens public awareness of the causes of litter and debris.
The first coastal clean-up took place along the coast of Texas, in the US, in 1986, with 2 800 volunteers. Today, the campaign includes all bodies of water, such as inland lakes, rivers, streams and underwater sites, and approximately half-a-million people in more than 100 countries volunteer for the cause.
Help Ocean Conservancy to keep our beaches and waterways clean
Brand South Africa will run a competition to find 10 of the best volunteers during the campaign. To enter, users need to add #CleanUpSA in their posts on social media.
The top five users on Twitter as well as the top five Facebook users will each receive a Play Your Part hamper. These include memory banks and sticks, scarves, books, peak caps and pens.
The hamper will consist of the following items.
Other organisations participating in the events include: National Recycling Forum, Tuffy, Glass Recycling Company, Petco, Collect a Can, Southern African Vinyls Association, TetraPak, Polystyrene Packaging Council, Department of Environmental Affairs, Ocean Conservancy, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Trust, and Astrapak Group.
