Increased rain yields huge collection of recyclables & trash

The poly-island is a big net that stretches over the river to collect waste and litter from the water as it passes through.

The increased rainfall in Pretoria over the past few weeks has resulted in an increase of waste collection in the so-called ‘poly-island’ litter trap set up by the Hennops Revival NGO.

“The rain makes it a bit harder to now go into the water and do a usual clean-up like we do normally,” said the NGO’s founder Tarryn Johnston.

“But we are keeping ourselves busy on the ground. We are doing ground clean-ups around the river that resulted in the collection of 150 bags of plastic bottles and 180 bags of polystyrene. These are all recyclable.”

The poly-island is a big net that stretches over the river to collect waste and litter from the water as it passes through.

“The rain has increased the water flow, making the poly-island very effective, as it catches a bunch of litter coming downstream. However, we will have to start cleaning it soon, as it is getting very full, very quickly.

“Unfortunately, it’s something that we’ll have to do by hand. We can’t use any machinery as the poly-island is tied to trees next to the river. It’s increasingly harder to empty it on a big scale.”

Read the full story on: Rekord East.