Healing Hennops River for Mandela Day
Many spent Mandela Day cleaning up the polluted Hennops River.
Hundreds of volunteers from various departments and companies met at the Royal Elephant Hotel to clean up the river banks of the Hennops River recently.
Exxaro resources along with partners for the day included Fresh (NGO), Hennops Blue Horizon, BluSwirl Recycling, Department of Environmental Affairs, KleenHealth South Africa, Department of Water Affairs, Billy the Bin, #GoodGreenDeeds campaign and Mine RP.
The Mandela Day clean-up project started off with a prayer followed by various speakers of the different partners involved in the project.
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The volunteers were spoiled with breakfast coffee and cupcakes; they were equipped with Mandela-day T-shirts, green caps, safety vests, steel bottles, gloves and plastic bags to clean up the polluted river banks.
Before the volunteers went off on their cleaning spree, safety tips where shared to ensure everyone was safe while cleaning along the river banks.
Katherine Fillmore from Hennops Blue Horizon said there are two polystyrene islands in the river, which is formed by litter and sewage which are washed downstream.
“The black sludge seen in the river is waste from sewage all the way from Olifantsfontein. The foam on the river is also sewage and can sometimes go up to three metres above the water.”
Fillmore said these “islands” are made up of polystyrene and other solid plastics such as soft drink bottles.
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“They can’t be removed that easily. We need strategical planning and more manpower.”
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