Locals and tourists urged to keep coastline clean

The founder of the coastal conservation clean-up campaign, Rudie van Vuuren, is calling on locals and tourists alike to keep the Namibian beachfront clean after visiting the coastal towns.

He made this call during the clean-up campaign held along the beach between Henties Bay, Swakopmund, and Walvis Bay.

The central coast bulges with holidaymakers every festive season, during and after which a lot of trash is left behind.

This is especially the case along the stretch of coastline between Henties Bay, Swakopmund, and Walvis Bay.

Holidaymakers who descended upon the beaches left several sites covered in litter and rubbish.

Local residents and community volunteers are outraged, as holidaymakers left several sites unkempt.

Thousands of people spent their days indulging in a variety of leisure activities, yet they did not care to properly dispose of their rubbish.

“We always thought there was a problem: people polluted the coast with plastic and rubbish from the sea ships, and people had parties along the coast like they had this year, and they just dumped the rubbish there. I thought, How can we change this? And this is how we started this project. We can always expect the government to do the work; we must be good, valuable citizens of the country.”

Swakopmund Beach is known for its beauty, though people often dump all types of waste, including paper, plastic, and even fishing lines, that are not eco-friendly.

“I think it’s just not on the coast; it’s everywhere in our country. Littering is detrimental to our environment. Everyone is coming to our country because of the eco-system, landscape, and environment, and it’s so beautiful if a piece of plastic paper or a bottle is laying next to the roads. It pulls everything out and destroys the beautiful picture of Namibia. On the coast, the same story: the coast is a very sensitive environment, and if we don’t clean up, we cause a much bigger problem,” said a volunteer.

Trash found includes plastic and glass bottles, food packaging, as well as discarded buckets and spades.

Also, scavengers roam the area at night, the volunteers say, tearing apart trash bags and leaving waste to be blown out to sea.

Their appeal is for every citizen to help keep the area clean.