Noordoewer residents clean up community

CLOSE to 500 Noordoewer residents and primary school pupils in collaboration with Collect-A-Can held a clean-up campaign under the theme ‘Protecting our beautiful Orange River’ on Saturday.

Addressing the participants, Karas Regional Councillor Paulus Ephraim, who also took part in the exercise, said residents should step up the fight against pollution and littering. ‘The fight against pollution and litter must be intensified to become our number one priority if we aspire for growth in our settlement in primarily creating harmony between human activities and the environment,’ Ephraim said. ‘We are all aware that we are dependent on the environment to survive and the other way round is also true – the environment depends on us to survive,’ he added. Epfraim said the exercise demonstrated that residents cared about keeping their town ‘clean and eco-friendly’.He called on local businesses to adopt appropriate environmentally friendly practices in managing waste and litter. ‘We cannot continue to pretend it’s as usual when our present actions continue to destroy the very fundamentals of the future we are aspiring to,’ he said. He also lashed out at local businesses who allegedly ‘cold-shouldered’ community activities. ‘Don’t be deterred by local business owners’ behaviour to engage yourselves in clean-up exercises to keep our environment clean,’ Ephraim said. Speaking to Noordoewer residents about the negative impacts of pollution, Collect-A-Can Regional Manager, Sandi Tjaronda, said residents should continuously have clean-up exercises. According to reports, Collect-A-Can, owned by steelmaker ArcelorMittal and beverage can manufacturer Nampak Bevcan, has upped its used can recovery in southern Africa from 18 per cent in 1993 to 70 per cent in 2007, and has paid out more than N$20 million to almost 100 000 collectors, 80 per cent of whom has no other source of income. Namibia Breweries and 4-H Namibian partnered with Collect-A-Can by sponsoring the Noordoewer clean-up exercise.luqman@namibian.com.na