60 volunteers, including 57 students, two teachers, one African Parks ranger, (two babies), and Karen joined forces to discuss and show the importance of plastic and recycling first-hand – and to do a big sweep of one of the wild beaches on Benguerra Island.
“We met at the primary school where we started with an awareness session – talking about plastic and why it has become a critical issue”, says Karen. “Then we put out a challenge: dividing ourselves into four teams, each team had a territory and needed to clean it as best as they could before meeting at the BCSS bay to sort and assess”.
In 1h30mins all groups were finished – collecting a total of 39 full bags of material – mostly made up of shoes/flip flops, plastic bottles (PET), HDPE plastic products and fishing nets. Over a snack break, the group talked more about recycling and separating – and learned a little about the African Parks ranger, who accompanied the teams.
When the students meet rangers, they greet them by saying “prontos para conservar o meio ambiente” which translates to “ready to protect the environment”. A sentiment the team at BCSS strongly supports.
BCSS is proud to support World Clean Up Day on Benguerra, and continues to collect data and work with the community on its waste and plastic recycling program. To read more, click here.
Special thanks to the students and teachers of Benguerra Primary School, Africa Parks Network, and Hooper & Louw for their support.
