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The Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET) team kicked off Make-a-Difference Week with a beach clean-up from Sunrise Beach to Muizenberg on Saturday 5 June. The clean-up was the first of many activities led by CTEET in support of the nine-day worldwide effort, which ran until Sunday 13 June, to reduce negative environmental impacts.
Various community-empowerment partners, including Village Heights Eco Buddies, Project 90 by 2030, 9 Miles Project, Beyond Project and the Beach Co-op participated in the clean-up; as did learners and teachers from Silukhanyo Primary School, West End Primary, John Graham Primary, Steenberg High and individual learners from Rondebosch Boys’ and Herschel Girls’ high schools.
In total, participants collected 215 kg of trash, with the top three “dirty dozen” items being individual sweet wrappers, cool drink lids and lollipop sticks. The dirty dozen refers to the 12 most prevalent plastic litter items found in the ocean.
Melissa Zackon, CTEET’s school coordinator, says: “The clean-up was a great success and we appreciate the positive response from sponsors who came on board. The kids absolutely loved the day and learned so much while still making a huge positive impact. Captain Fanplastic ran the programme for our younger learners whilst The Beach Co-op coordinated the briefing and helped with older learners.”
The week progressed with various activities. These included short guided walks and beach clean-ups hosted by the penguin rangers in Simon’s Town, who shared their vast penguin knowledge.
According to Ranger Mikaela Slier: “The highlight was our beach clean-up on Wedneday 9 June. We collected four large refuse bags with the beach team and two large bags by the team on kayaks. We also conducted a night survey on Thursday 10 June to increase our species list.”
The week ended with a restoration process at Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area (KRCA) with staff being joined by volunteers from the Friends of KRCA and the community on Sunday 13 June.
Assistant conservation officer Fayruz Prins says: “We collected seeds from five different plants in the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos that occurs at KRCA, which will be stored at the Millennium Seed Bank for future use and to prevent species extinction.
“We also planted 30 plants of five different species in the conservation area to restore an edge affected by passing vehicles. We were delighted to have such passionate volunteers participate in the action.”
