Protecting SA’s waters
Environmentalist Tarryn Johnston yesterday said an operation to clear the litter caused by the dumping of boxes of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the Hennops River over the weekend could take years to clear.
Johnston from nonprofit environmental group Hennops Revival has, in recent months, been a familiar figure at Hennops and at the Irene golf course where she and her group have been on a clean-up campaign.
But little was she prepared for a colossal pile of rubbish strewn around the river and the golf course vicinity when she received a call on Sunday morning from the course’s general manager.
“She reported to me that what appeared to be medical waste was dumped into the river. But when I arrived, I found it was not medical waste but PPE – boxes of gloves and masks.
“There is so much that we are going to be picking up gloves and masks for years to come,” said Johnston.
Describing the act as “insane”, “crazy” and “criminal”, Johnston said: “It is very disheartening, but we are on a mission of trying to remove all we can without being emotional about it.
“There are no words to describe the way this makes me feel.”
Johnston said she was accustomed to finding the odd glove and mask in the river, “but never something like this”.
“This is crazy, at a time like this when people in hospitals are running short of PPE to do their work.
“We are literately going to sit here for years,” Johnston said.