THE founder of Bluebelle Tutoring, Ursula Bell, will host a clean-up competition in Coffee Bay on June 18.
She confirmed that they would also run skills workshops for kids as part of raising awareness of the importance of keeping the environment clean.
She said that they would also use this opportunity to teach locals how to turn trash into cash.
“I live in a nearby village and the lack of tourists affects us all. Clean-up Coffee Bay is trying to restore its pristine beauty that once brought us tourists in abundance.
“The intention is to firstly clean up Coffee Bay. The sand dunes are treacherous for anyone, especially children, as they are knee deep in broken glass.
“We also want to raise awareness of the importance of not littering and also keeping pollution out of our water ways,” said Bell. She added that she was hoping to get a space from King Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality to sort the rubbish; this way they could recycle glass and some plastic, resulting in less rubbish in landfills.
“I am hoping that we can open the Jonge Recycling Centre that has been standing stocked and unused for quite some time. The Coffee Bay Lifeguards, including Fezile Bodla and I, are working together, doing lifeguard training for the village children.”
Bell said they often help them pick up litter before training on the beach. She confirmed that Bodla was talking to Coffee Bay schools to attract more participants.
She added that the competition was open to adults as well, at an entry fee of R50 per team of five.
She said the cleaning the dunes would be done by adults, as this was not suitable for children due to broken glasses and sanitary waste.
“Ideally, opening the Jonga recycling plant would be the gem. However, we are talking about doing a clean-up like this three to four times a year.
“Also that locals can collect glass bottles and plastic and then recycle them in different ways.”
The bottles can either be used to build homes or they can create something new with them, like glass tiles, plastic fillers, etc. Bell said that they were working with Ocean View Hotel, Nenge River Lodge and Sharon Diversified, who are sponsoring three prizes and transport for the rubbish to be taken to the Mqanduli dump-site.
According to Bell, they were still looking for various sponsors and they would appreciate it if any local companies would like to get involved in this initiative. She said anyone who would like to get involved, donate or sponsor anything should please feel free to contact her on 063 401 9075.
The spokesperson for the KDM Local Municipality, Sonwabo Mampoza, said the Executive Mayor, Councillor Nyaniso Nelani, and the council appreciated this initiative.
He said they hoped many people could learn something from this initiative and always keep areas of the municipality clean.
“People would now understand that the rubbish could be changed into money and the investors would be more attracted in order to use the available opportunities,” said Mampoza.
