Another massive Hennops clean-up planned

A shocking amount of polystyrene and plastic has once again washed down the polluted Hennops River following the weekend’s rains.

The discovery of this waste has sparked calls for yet another massive clean-up of the river due to happen later this month, Hennops Revival founder Tarryn Johnston said.

“Our next community clean-up is going to be on 15 November and it’s going to be a big one,” she said.

Hennops Revival is a non-profit organisation aimed at reviving and restoring the Hennops River, in collaboration with government, other organisations, the private sector and members of the public.

“As soon as the water level rises, more rubbish comes down the river,” Johnston said, adding it was an accumulation of things which were dumped during the winter months that found their way into the river.

“At least, this time, we had the metro to assist the day after the rain.”

Johnston also reiterated that while it was often suggested that they tackle the problem at the source, it was not that easy.

“Even if all these problems could be solved at one particular place, there’s a magnitude of things which would have to be sorted out first.”

She further indicated there was concern over the possibility of flooding, with any amount of rainfall.

“Any amount of rain, at this point, will bring floods … that is a concern, especially for people residing at the river bank. Those living in informal settlements would be most affected.

“When I went there on Monday, it was around a half metre before they got flooded,” Johnston said.

Last week, she said that 52.5 tonnes of waste had been removed from the river since initial floods on 5 October.

In another earlier interaction with Rekord, Johnston also indicated that they believed a business was behind the dumping of the polystyrene in the river.

“We are aware of the illegal dumpsites on the border of Irene/Pindene. The pieces of polystyrene were up to 1 200mm x 500mm x 200mm so it was not ordinary protective packaging,” she said.

She said the polystyrene was as a result of massive illegal dumping upstream and possibly used in the process of building.

“Upon further inspection I found a number of clues about other types of industries using this retrieved polystyrene, including salmon packaging from as far as Norway, medical packaging and refrigeration,” she said.

Johnston also ruled out the possibility of recyclers being behind the dumping as the quantity was “just too much, too huge”.

“It’s close to 200 tonnes and recyclers do not recycle polystyrene.”

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