Green Anglicans call for an end to plastic sucker sticks
On Saturday the 3rd of December 2023 members of the Green Teens program and Young People’s Ministry from Diocese of Cape Town joined the Cape Town Beach clean-up initiative by cleaning Milnerton Beach on a Saturday morning. Young people gave their time to fill up waste bags with all forms of litter they could find on the beach, of which most was domestic single use plastic, which could easily be replaced with other forms of biodegradables leading up to cleaner and safer oceans for all creatures.
Ms Liko Qokela from the Catholic church joined the clean up as a guest speaker and gave a short but powerful message to the group of those gathered saying ” it might look like a waste of time and just a small thing we did however it is through small initiatives like that of beach clean ups we not only get to take care of our environment but also learn how things we take for granted end up destroying our sea life”.
In terms of the items that were collected the most numerous were sucker (lolly) sticks and the young people demanded that we call out companies to stop making plastic sucker sticks but rather return to paper ones. Plastic sucker sticks were all over the beach, they are very light so can float out to sea and be eaten by God’s marine creatures.
The day ended with a picnic on the beach and swimming
Bino Makhalanyane
