South Africans collect beach l

South Africans collect beach litter and turn it into bricks

Litter collected at the 5fm Beach Cleanups is being put into 2l bottles which are turned into bricks used to build structures.

South Africans collect beach l

The need for a storage unit at the Masikhululeke Educare Centre in Joe Slovo prompted Waste-ED, Cobute and The Building Of teams to come together to find a solution.

An eco-brick is made from a 2l Coke-shaped plastic bottle packed full of unrecyclable items like sweet papers, straws and chip packets. This method promotes an approach to the zero-waste philosophy which aims to reduce waste ending up in landfills.

The bricks are well-insulated and strong and not only provide a solution to a building need but ensure that litter is removed from the beaches, lessening the chance of it ending up in the sea.

The Educare Centre in Joe Slovo was started in 1990 when Nukuzola Vivian Dlabantu was just 39-years-old. Her aim was to get the children of Joe Slovo off the streets, to teach them hygiene and to make sure they were fed.

“I want to keep young people away from crime and drugs, so I welcome them here after school hours so that they can brainstorm ways to improve our current challenges,” says Nukuzola.

“Based at the Joe Slovo site, in collaboration with the experienced Cape Town Beach Cleanup team we will help turn the non-recyclables into building bricks as we clean up, at source, as well as working with the larger team to transform the other materials collected around Cape Town into bricks that will be used for building a storage space for a school in Joe Slovo.”

The event will be taking place on 18 February in Joe Slovo where people will be collecting plastic litter and building eco bricks for the project. For more information, or to become a part of the solution, check out the event on Facebook.