CAPE TOWN – Over 100 residents brought out their kitchen utensils and rolled up their sleeves to clear heaps of litter along Long Beach in Kommetjie on Saturday 13 September.
The clean-up, called Wave 100, was organised by Kommetjie resident Frankie Albright, who said she was appalled by the amount of microplastics that blew in with the onshore winter winds.
“The people of the South Peninsula got fed up waiting for the council to clean the catastrophic build-up of microplastics on their beach, so last weekend they rolled up their sleeves and sieved Long Beach in Kommetjie themselves using their own kitchen colanders,” she said.
Residents brought their kitchen sieves to help remove the micro plastics. Photos: supplied. 
The young boys and girls at Ocean View children’s cadets also got stuck in on the day. 
There were heaps of litter collected on the day. 
The Ocean View cadets attending an educational workshop on microplastics. 
The Wave100 team
The Ocean View children’s cadets also joined the event where over 100 people formed a human wave, sweeping along the beach with their sieves.
Albright could not estimate the amount of litter collected on the day. “I don’t have that figure yet but we’ve done several beach cleans this winter so it’s about a dumpster truck full of plastic that washed up and came down the Spruit. A lot of it is still lining the beach all the way to Noordhoek,” she said.
Albright expressed a concern about reports that the fish are eating these particles and they are ending up in our food chain.
“You only have to sift an inch beneath the surface and all manner of tiny plastic particles emerge.”
Imhoff resident George van der Schyff said: “The harvested microplastics will not end up in landfill but will be used in building aggregate as part of the circular economy.”
He will arrange a tour of the Centre for Regenerative Design and Collaboration (CRDC) factory for several of the cadets so they can see the plastics being processed into concrete products to be used for housing in the near future, Albright said.
The City confirmed last week that it was aware of the ongoing challenge surrounding litter and microplastics on beaches.
“The Bokraamspruit enters the sea on Long Beach, Kommetjie. This river unfortunately has a lot of litter including plastics thrown into it, especially in the upper reaches where it is channelised. As a result, especially when it has rained, large amounts of small plastic can be discharged and is evident on the beach area at Kommetjie where the river crosses the beach,” said Deputy Mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews.
