River worm ‘eats’ plastic
The river worm is on the Tongazi River and will be monitored and cleaned by the NPO three times a week.
The chairman of non-profit organisation, Looking After Leisure Bay (LALB), Vanessa Murray, saw a post on social media that set the wheels in motion regarding a new mitigation method for preventing plastics from reaching the ocean.
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And so the ‘river worm’ device – which floats on the surface of a river, and traps all plastic floating downstream – was born.
LALB approached Ray Nkonkeni Municipality to ask if it could install a few of these worms on the rivers that flow into the ocean in the Leisure Bay area, as a test project.
The municipality was only too pleased that someone was taking the litter in rivers seriously, and gave its support to the project.
Vanessa got her team together and began building their floating river worm.
The team collected thousands of plastic bottles and made sure that every bottle had a cap in place.
They then sewed a 12 metre long tube, made from shade cloth, and stuffed the empty bottles into the tube.
A strong rope was threaded through the centre of the worm, and it was ready to be deployed.
The river worm is on the Tongazi River and will be monitored and cleaned by the NPO three times a week.
LALB has permission to install another worm on the Boboyi River, which will happen soon.
The river worm is just another tool the NPO is using to fight waste in Leisure Bay and Glenmore.
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