ARMED with sticks, rubbish bags and gloves, learners from Duncan Village braved the unseasonal cold to spruce up their region as part of the City’s clean-up campaign.

The annual two-week campaign began on 15 September, aimed at educating residents about the importance of recycling. Duncan Village learners got stuck in on Friday, 19 September.

Along with members of the City’s waste management team, the children descended on various filthy streams in the area to collect litter, which was then loaded on to the municipal refuse collection truck travelling with the team.

The cleaning mission then set off for a formal event at Gompo Hall, attended by the City’s partners in the campaign - Amathole District Municipality, the Institute for Waste Management of Southern Africa, and Buyisa-e-bag.

Speaking during the gathering, the City’s waste management section representative, Nosiseko Skweyiya, this year the campaign was focusing on educating community members in an effort to encourage them to keep the municipality clean.

“In collaboration with our partners we visited public places like schools and taxi ranks … to teach learners and hawkers about the importance of recycling. This year, our campaign was different from the ones we hosted in previous years because we combined both education and cleaning to ensure that it has an impact,” Skweyiya said.

The president of the waste management institute, Vincent Charnley, said that education was critical in ensuring the sustainability of the project.

“We are working closely with local government to intensify education about the importance of recycling in order to keep the environment clean. Our target groups are schoolchildren, taxi drivers, commuters and street traders … Through organisations like Buyisa-e-bag, we are encouraging the collection, re-use and recycling of plastic shopping bags that are discarded in the waste stream.”

Pamphlets containing information about various ways of keeping the environment clean were distributed at the meeting.