A successful litter clean-up in Farrarmere
A whopping 40 bags of litter were collected on a clean-up day, held by the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa, on Friday, September 19.
Coordinated by PRO Samantha Choles, the area including Farrarmere Gardens, the Farrarmere Community Centre, Benoni Nursery School and Belvedere School was cleaned up on what was also National Recycling Day.
The event was open to all members of the public.
Among the helpers were Jacaranda FM radio presenter and Benoni local Paul Rotherham and his children.
Children of the Farrarmere Gardens Nursery School joined in and helped to clean up their school grounds, within the Farrarmere Community Centre.
Choles said that, amongst other litter, items such as broken vacuum cleaners, tires, ceiling boards, wires and computer parts were picked up.
She added that litter is caused by general pedestrian littering, illegal dumping and the wind blowing litter from parks.
Two residents of Farrarmere Gardens told the City Times they feel some of their fellow residents are to blame for the constant mess.
One of them, Martie Human, said if the area is cleaned on one day, it will be filthy again the following day, and that residents illegally use the grounds surrounding the area to dump their garbage.
Mara Roberts added that the way some of the residents live is scandalous.
“I have been living here since 1968 and, the Lord knows, this place has never looked the way it has in the past 10 years – before that people held garden competitions,” she said.
The women agreed that the youth should be educated on basic, sanitary living within their households.
Choles said special clean-up days are not necessarily needed to keep the environment clean.
She encouraged the community to take a black bag and clean up their surroundings every now and then.
To find out more about the association and more about clean-up days, contact Choles on 082 452 2566, or email her at pr@pamsa.co.za.
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