Thanks to a grant from the National Lotteries Commission, WCC is in a position to sustain a 6 week campaign of information and action regarding an issue that is too often literally ‘swept under the carpet’ – the issue of waste and litter and its negative impact on the environment.
The programme will kick off with a day-long Expo on 1 March 2017 in the Foyer of the Municipal Auditorium. Everyone is invited to the official launch of the campaign by Councillor David Botha at 10h00.
Respect for our fellow human beings means we do not throw our rubbish in their ‘back yard’. Litter of all kinds is an eyesore and a deterrent for tourists who bring economic development opportunities. Respect means we do not expect others to pick up our mess.
Respect for the environment means we cherish the beauty of nature and all its creatures.
Anything discarded carelessly is litter. Litter in our environment deeply affects our own psyche leading to eco-depression. Let’s protect ourselves from litter.
Let’s protect the environment from the horrific impact it has on animals, especially marine animals. We have all seen the dead birds with their stomachs full of plastic, the beached whales with a mass of plastic bags in their bellies, the turtles mistaking plastic for jellyfish. And the floating, continent-sized islands of plastic in our oceans. And that’s just what’s visible on the surface.
What is unseen are the pollutants that emanate from our waste. Think for a moment about cigarette butts. They are the most common litter item found across the world – and in Hermanus. Whale Coast Conservation has estimated that around 28 million cigarette ‘stompies’ are dumped in our ‘cleanest town’ every year. The filters in the stompies accumulate harmful toxins, including many carcinogens. The filters are made of a plastic material and do not biodegrade. They stay in the environment forever, braking down into smaller, more lethal pieces and leaching out all their toxins into the environment – your environment and that of the animals that we eat.
Dumping stompies is an act of total disrespect of other people and the environment we need to protect. The WCC campaign will inform residents and give them practical ways to act against litter and waste.