“The Friends of the Liesbeek is a non-profit organisation working tirelessly to preserve the environs of the Cape’s Liesbeek River. Founded in the early 90s by resident volunteers, FoL looks after the river, which runs through mixed-use urban areas.

The FoL team performs river clean-ups and alien species control, as well as leading environmental awareness outreach programmes and the development of the Liesbeek River Life Plan, a roadmap to
rehabilitate the river.

Sabelo Memani, Liesbeek Maintenance Project’s project manager, explains that urban rivers and their environs play a crucial role in climate-change mitigation and adaptation, and the health of the people located along it. With the employment of permanent workers by LMP, the Liesbeek River’s condition continues to improve and is being maintained as one of the best examples of an urban river project in South Africa. Memani explains that the Covid-19 pandemic has threatened their business model, which relies on funding, much of which has been lost owing to the financial pressures of lockdown.

The support FoL provides the local City of Cape Town is critical. FoL plans to offer skills development and training opportunities to people from previously disadvantaged communities.”

“Since the formal inception of the Liesbeek Maintenance Project (LMP) over 11 years ago, the condition of the Liesbeek River has continued to improve and it is often referred to as one of the best examples of how an urban river can be maintained in partnership between community-based groups, private funders and a local authority,” says Memani.

“Aaniyah Omardien is the founder and director of The Beach Co-op, an organisation focusing on building an ocean-loving culture in Cape Town.

“I fell in love with the ocean as a young girl in Cape Town, where the mountains meet the sea. This connection to blue and green spaces motivated me to study geography and atmospheric science at the University of Cape Town.”
The Beach Co-op is involved in beach clean-ups, and works collaboratively with ocean communities and other role players to protect and restore ocean ecosystems.

Omardien believes that sustainability and environmentalism go hand-in-hand: “I have struggled being labelled an environmentalist, because it did not capture the social justice and human rights issues that I feel are marginalised in traditional conservation and sustainability/environmental practices.”
Omardien argues that the marginalised are the most threatened by the effects of climate change, but are often side-lined from the sustainability conversation.

“The Beach Co-op has been working with the City of Cape Town to improve their understanding of the biodiversity in some of the city’s tidal pools, and to share this knowledge with residents,” she says.”

“Our goals are to empower coastal communities as keepers of oceans, and to keep South Africa’s beaches clean and healthy”

PETCO (PET Recycling Company NPC) was established in 2004 as an industry-driven and financed national recycling initiative. Its aim is to represent the South African PET plastic industry’s joint effort to self-regulate post-consumer PET recycling.

“PET” is the acronym for a versatile, sophisticated plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate, which is used to make the most common container in the soft drink market today: the plastic bottle. PET is globally recognised as a safe, recyclable packaging material for food and non-food products. It is used for a wide variety of applications because it is safe, strong, shatterproof and chemically 100% recyclable into various PET products (such as fibre for duvets and pillows) and bottles, when basic design principles are followed.

Although the PET plastics industry acknowledges the convenience and life-saving qualities of plastics, a solution for post-consumer plastic packaging is critical in order to minimise its impact on the environment. PETCO views itself as a catalyst of design for recycling innovation, preserving the value of existing resources and utilising recycled PET in more and more applications.

PETCO estimates that more than 64 000 income opportunities are created every year through PET bottle recycling for small and micro-collectors. Plastic and other pollution are some of the biggest challenges currently facing the planet and the accumulation of plastic waste and other debris on land and its leakage into the sea is a growing, costly problem. Through PETCO and its members, 5.9 million bottles were collected for recycling every day in 2019, keeping them out of the environment and ocean where they do not belong.

The company raises awareness for the plastic pollution crisis by being involved in various ocean-conscious events such as the African Marine Network conference, and educating the public on the need for a circular economy.”