OPINION: Whose responsibility is it to ensure that beaches are kept litter free?

In an ideal world, every person should be responsible for their own rubbish, but sadly, many people don’t care or don’t know the damage they cause by littering. The result is that the beaches are polluted with plastic bags and bottles, cigarette butts, and worse, which in turn have negative effects on sea-life and the marine ecosystem.

Seaside holiday resorts rely heavily on tourism for employment and income and compete to attract visitors. The results of Covid, loadshedding and fuel price increases is that most people are financially worse off than they were five years ago. Recent increases in interest rates will work their way into the economy soon and squeeze the average consumer even more.

Despite the negativity, there are glimmers of hope, and certain areas of municipal service delivery have continued to function. Since our last visit to the South Coast, Tidy Towns has made a significant difference between Shelly Beach and Margate – thank you to all concerned. Together we can do more!

I don’t know who is responsible, but there are two areas which could do with attention:
The watercourse down to Lucien beach, which comes out at the stairway/rocks below the lifeguard station has been neglected.

Trash from Marine Drive (and further upstream) litters the final 100m opening out on the beach; sandbags are exposed and there appears to be recycling activity along the watercourse – right where visitors to the beach exit the stairway onto the beach.

The lovely, paved promenade at Margate main beach past Wimpy and lifeguard station ends with an abrupt 50cm (or bigger) drop to the sand, making it unusable by most visitors.

KATE McLACHLAN

HAVE YOUR SAY

Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram