AQuellé, the water bottling plant in Kranskop, KwaZulu-Natal, has been a driving force in the community's clean-up efforts. Their initiative, started three years ago, has significantly improved the health and cleanliness of neglected areas. Their vision is to create a cleaner South Africa, leading to a healthier country.
Gladson Songelwa, the coordinator, highlighted the importance of working together to clean the environment: "Three years ago, we observed a lack of awareness for clean environments in our community. The litter around the community shops was a sore-eye and posed potential health risks, so we started to clean up. Our endeavours also include eco-systems. Our collective responsibility is to act and ensure the long-term sustainability of our water ecosystems. Clean and healthy rivers and streams are the lifeblood of our communities. It provides us with drinking water, crop irrigation, and a habitat for countless wildlife species. Our community clean-ups form part of our bigger community outreach programme. It has become synonymous with our brand due to our wide-reaching footprint. We believe our partnerships will help us achieve greater awareness and sustainability.”
This approach ensures that the clean-ups are impactful. Various groups have joined the aQuellé-team over time to participate in clean-up efforts. These include community radio stations. Private companies have recognised the importance of sustainable clean-ups and joined these initiatives in their respective areas. The Natal Sharks Board has also joined the clean-up efforts, focusing on townships near the sea. They have specifically addressed the impact of plastics and litter on sharks and have made significant progress in cleaning the area. Volunteers from different organisations collected hundreds of bags of litter, and community members took part in clean-up operations in areas such as Durban harbour, Ntuzuma, and Klaarwater townships and even extended their efforts to Newcastle in the KZN Midlands.
“One of the areas we cleaned showed us it was a high alcohol-using area”, said Gladson. “We saw hundreds of empty bottles lying around, and cleaning that area took some time. This area had dirty water running through the township, and only mobile toilets were used for usage, resulting in life-risking raw sewerage across the place – even in the areas where children were playing. This was the worst we have seen, but it broke our hearts because our communities are not supposed to live in these unhealthy circumstances. We want to change this status quo”.
To find out more about the clean-ups and how you can become involved, visit www.aquelle.co.za/KHULA or www.facebook.com/aQuelleKhula
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