Durban – Volunteers collected over 1 000 refuse bags of waste from beaches and river systems in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal during September as part of Environment Awareness Month.
Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) was involved in several coastal clean-up operations during the month, alongside volunteers, and local municipalities.
South Africa is facing a waste crisis with designated landfills at capacity and illegal dumping scarring the landscape all over the country.
Prioritising recycling at the source is the growing call from waste management organisations who have called on communities and individuals to play their part in reducing waste through recycling initiatives.
Companies such as Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) are a part of the crusade to curb the growing and unnecessary waste that find their way into local landfills.
These efforts to clean up communities and the environment are achieved via multilateral collaborations with local communities, government, waste management organisations, as well as other private sector partners.
Nozicelo Ngcobo, CCBSA public affairs, communications, and sustainability director, said: “These coastal clean-up efforts have made a difference, not only in terms of removing harmful waste from the environment, but in mobilising and educating communities around the importance of waste management.”
Ngcobo said close to 100 CCBSA employees from the company’s coastal region participated in the clean-up activities which began on 1 September in Enseleni in KZN.
On 14 September, which was River Clean-up Day, CCBSA joined in a clean-up in Ezimbokodweni river mouth in Amanzimtoti, also KZN, alongside the local municipality.
Also forming part of the volunteering efforts was the South African Healthcare Foundation and Plastics SA.
Around 150 bags of waste were collected at these clean-ups.
On International Coastal Cleanup Day, on 17 September, a total of 72 CCBSA employees joined clean-ups in Richards Bay, Amanzimtoti, East London, and Gqberha.
These clean-ups were in partnership with local municipalities, as well as a multitude of organisations such as the South African Healthcare Foundation, Plastics SA, Sasol, PETCO, Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, McDonald’s SA and WESSA.
Together, over 700 refuse bags of waste were collected.
Through partnering with other organisations, we have been able to do so much more in support of a healthy debris-free environment and oceans, Ngcobo added.
“Partnerships are key if we are to change attitudes and behaviour patterns and move towards the responsible and collective management of waste in order to keep communities and the environment clean and safe,” she said.
Ngcobo said CCBSA was committed to spreading the word around recycling to improve collection and recycling rates as part of making packaging waste part of a circular economy.
CCBSA, one of the Coca-Cola Company’s bottlers in South Africa, is steered by The Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste strategy – aimed at collecting or recycling a bottle or can for each one the company sells by 2030 and making 100% of their packaging recyclable by 2025.
The company has declared an ambitious and innovative undertaking to use at least 50% recycled material in their packaging by 2030.
In 2021, Coca-Cola approved a R3-million grant and partnered with PET Recycling South Africa (PETCO) to support the national network of over 100 buy-back centres as part of efforts to keep PET (polyethylene terephthalate) packaging out of the environment and into recycling for reuse.
For more information about the bottler’s collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste strategy by 2030 on https://www.coca-cola.co.za/sustainability/world-without-waste
CLEAN-UP: Volunteers from local communities, municipalities, corporates, and the NGO sector joined hands during Environmental Awareness Month in September to clean up beaches and river systems in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape
