The Overstrand Municipality remains committed in its bid to eradicate waste responsibly and to the promotion of a plastic-free environment. In line with that, Overstrand’s Manager of Solid Waste Johan van Taak and Environmental Officer Penelope Aplon recently did a presentation to the Executive Management Team (EMT) on the dangers and negative impact of plastic bags on the environment and the ocean.
In due course, the intention is to also do a roll out drive to all Overstrand employees with the view of creating greater awareness and ensuring they in turn become the primary ambassadors of the campaign.
At the conclusion of the presentation, van Taak and Aplon handed out re-useable bags (made from durable parachute material) to Overstrand Mayor Rudolph Smith, his fellow Mayoral Committee (Mayco) members and the EMT.
Against this backdrop, van Taak stated, “We wish to encourage the Overstrand community to buy re-usable bags instead of ordinary shopping bags. In this way the public will assist us greatly in our environmental conservation and waste management efforts.
It is of particular concern that worldwide an estimated 4 billion plastic bags are reportedly ending up as litter each year. Tied end to end this means that these could circle the earth 63 times!”
