The Taking Rubbish Away, Saving Habitat (Trash) project, in Observatory, is celebrating a decade of fighting to keep rubbish out of the Liesbeek River.
The project started in 2013 with one volunteer, Ricardo Sa, of Observatory, who decided to do something about rubbish along the river.
“I had been walking my dogs on the banks of the Liesbeek and noticed how much rubbish had been accumulating over the years. I ran the idea of a monthly Obs community clean-up by Friends of the Liesbeek, the river’s custodian volunteer group, and got the blessing from the City of Cape Town,” he said.
Mr Sa got a company to sponsor protective clothing for five people, and a supermarket gave food and water.
For the first clean-up, he paid out of his pocket for garbage bags and transport and wages for four workers.
That clean-up in 2013 collected about 50 bags of litter.
Since 2015, Trash has worked regularly with the Friends of the Liesbeek, and every first Saturday of the month, volunteers from both groups clean a section of the Liesbeek between the N2 and the South African Astronomical Observatory.
About 500 to 700 bags of litter have been collected each year amounting to more than 6000 bags over the past decade, according to records from the two groups. Crates, buckets, suitcases, clothing, blankets, mattresses, a TV, a microwave and an oil heater are just some of the things they have pulled out of the river over the years.
“We have always believed local communities are vital to the sustainable health of the river corridor,” said Friends of the Liesbeek committee member Kari Cousins.
She said it could be disheartening picking up litter that had been so carelessly discarded. “But it’s important to keep doing it. We can only hope that this inspires others to see that taking care of our green spaces matters, and that it’s up to us to do what we can, every day, to make the world a more beautiful, less filthy place.”
Mr Sa, who now lives in Germany, said the monthly initiative was still going strong. “Since the beginning, there has been countless help from Obs residents and support from local businesses to cover costs,” he said.
Sybrand Strauss, who took over the Trash project committee in 2017, said it was a wonderful example of a grassroots movement that grew into something larger.
Meet opposite the Wild Fig restaurant in Liesbeek Avenue on the first Saturday of the month, from 9.30am, to join the monthly clean-up. Email trash@fol.org.za for more information.
