THE rainy weather could not deter more than 1 200 volunteers from doing their bit for the environment on Saturday at the International Coastal Clean-Up (ICC) Day around the uMngeni River mouth and the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve.

South Africa marked its 20th year of participating in the ICC, with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife taking responsibility for coordinating beach clean-ups at all the major beaches in KwaZulu-Natal.

Check out our gallery to see if you were snapped on the day

Basil Pather, reserve manager of Beachwood said he was impressed with the turnout despite the heavy rains.

“I thought the rain would put people off but it’s fantastic to see so many people come out in support of the environment, especially the young children. More than half of the rubbish collected today was plastic, again highlighting how much litter is flowing into the sea and into the reserve. So the participants get to see how much rubbish is polluting our rivers,” he said.

In January this year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said plastic in the oceans, and rivers will outweigh fish pound for pound by 2050. Estimates suggest that there are more than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269 000 tons, floating in the world’s rivers and oceans.