Some day we may be mining our landfills for the resources we’ve buried. A scary fact presented to the learners of IY’s Chesterville on their Operation Clean Up which was
held on the morning of Thursday, 28 June.
This was a new initiative piloting in Winter School in an aide to get our learners to give
back to the community that they’ve grown up in ( majority if our learners either attend
school within the Chesterville area and/or live within the area – or surroundings )
Durban Solid Waste and Ethekwini Municipality’s Parks and Recreation played a
major role in making this day possible. Thursdays activities started with the learners
taking a walk through the Education & Waste Minimisation Mobile Training Centre –
a bus which travels around various schools and communities within the municipalities
educating society about waste management and recycling through joint collaborations
between the municipality, Engen and the Association of Waste Management.
Mr Njebo, who is in KwaZulu Natal’s head office of Waste Management delivered a talk
about recycling and gave learners ideas on household waste they can recycle.
After all this, learners and tutors were separated into various groups and it was time to
walk around Chesterville to help clean up the community. DSW kindly sponsored gloves
as well as plastic bags which we would use to collect all the waste we found along our
way.
Our first stop was the local hospice where learners cleaned outside the premises, the yard
and gardens. Thereafter we took a walk down towards the St Anthony’s Church’s mission amidst
the support and cheers of local community members.
Arriving at the mission, we were greeted by a Parks and Recreation truck which was
there to deliver the tools sponsored by the department which would be used to clean up
the yard.
Once again learners were separated into groups and cleaned around the yard of the
mission as well as clearing the yard of weeds.
Learners enjoyed clearing up the garden and we are looking forward to hopefully return
to plant a few vegetables for the abused and abandoned women and children which this
mission houses.
After our Operation Clean Up, Chesterville learners returned to DUT for academic
tutoring. At this time, Umlazi learners, who had started the morning in the classroom,
began their Operation Clean Up with a presentation from Zanele, from the DSW
education department. The presentation focused on various aspects such as awareness of
pollution, waste management, different disposal areas in KZN and what effect waste has
on the environment.
Zanele futher empasised the importance of “the 3 Rs” (Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle), in
combating the negative impact waste has on the environment.
Another important aspect which they touched on was the illegal dumping of waste
especially by our households when they miss the scheduled time of the municipal truck
picking up waste in the neighborhood.
After the insightful presentation, learners were taken to the beach, not to swim, but to
give back to their environment, by cleaning up the litter in the area.
Having Joy Olivier ( co-founder of IkamvaYouth ) and Zamo Shongwe ( IY’s National Coordinator ) join
The clean-up was an added treat for the learners. The amount of litter collected in the
few minutes that the learners were there (just under 30 minutes) was a real eye opener.
Learners really got to see just how bad the issue of pollution on our beaches actually is.
We hope that this is the start of a great initiative and that learners will be able to use all
the knowledge that they gained about taking care of their environment, within their daily
lives.
Lloyd Lungu