Greenwood Park couple start Saturday clean-up initiative
The community clean-up initiative called Pick and Pick encourages residents to keep the area clean while instilling civic pride.
JUST 30 minutes can make the world of difference is something Greenwood Park couple Farrah Shaik and Radlin Abbott firmly believe in.
They have started a community clean-up initiative, Pick and Pick, which happens every Saturday, from 16:00 until 16:30.
For the last three weekends, the couple and a few residents gathered at the Mimosa Road entrance and picked up all the rubbish in the vicinity leading to Chris Hani Road (North Coast Road).
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Shaik explained the movement is about instilling civic pride in the area.
“A few years ago we started a community garden as a way to uplift the entrance to Greenwood Park. Because the garden is at the entrance of the area it’s also a catchment zone leading to rubbish and debris getting trapped in the plants and around the railway bridge. The area around Mimosa Road is a high traffic zone with pedestrians, schoolchildren and hawkers walking there on a daily basis.
“Sadly this means rubbish is strewn everywhere and a lot of litter also comes in from Chris Hani Road. It’s a messy space coupled with the fact that there is now a longstanding leak, leaving rubbish stuck to the floor or flowing into the stormwater drains. My husband and I decided we needed to do something and we came up with Pick and Pick. Thus far we’ve had a few members get involved but our ultimate goal is to have more of the community and schools join in. It is only for a short time,” she said.
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Abbott echoed those sentiments.
“It is just 30 minutes a week and once the space is cleaned it looks neat and inviting. Currently the clean-ups have been focused at the Mimosa Road entrance but we’ve heard from other members who have done something similar on their roads. It is also a great way for parents to encourage their children and teach them about civic pride. Eventually we hope that people will know at 16:00 just to come out. Every piece of litter we pick up is one less piece polluting our neighbourhood,” he said.
The clean-ups take place every Saturday at 16:00.
All residents need to bring are a bin bag and gloves
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