Volunteers collected 14,5kg of litter from Ballito’s beaches in under an hour during a clean-up held alongside the Ballito Pro on Sunday.

Members of the North Coast Beaches team walked from Clark Bay to Willard Beach, collecting microplastics, bottle caps, plastic bottles, bread packets, coffee cups and lids, polystyrene and other litter. The collected waste was handed over to the Litter for Tokens team.

The volunteers said the clean-up was about more than removing rubbish from the shoreline.

“Our objective was not just to pick up litter, but also to encourage locals and the many visitors attending the Ballito Pro to become more responsible about their waste,” they said.

They added that while much of the waste may seem insignificant, it pollutes the beaches and threatens marine life.

The team hopes the clean-up will encourage more people to take responsibility for their rubbish and help keep the North Coast’s beaches clean and safe for future generations.