Our Field Operation in Durban, South Africa (Part 2/3)
After some days, we realized, that most of the plastic bags were still on the beach. There is an official garbage disposal, but obviously only for official bags. So, we had to organize with our friends a truck to help us and to get the bags from the beach.
You may think – this is it ? But after asking where the plastic bottles have been taken, we learned, that most of the plastic bottles are dumped on heaps of rubble…
Fortunately, there are first companies around Durban, which focus on recycling of the plastic. Or they just sort it and pack it by plastic type. Some companies already make good money with it e.g. like the Source Waste Trading company …
So, after one week, we just paid for plastic bottles, which were brought to recycling companies. The flip side of the coin is, that people might loose their income, if they only gather materials on the mountains of rubbish. At the moment however, the ratio is minimum 99:1 which means far less than 1 percent will be recycled.
The third part of our journey goes into the outback and the focus is then more on the rivers.
Our field operation in Latin America is still ongoing. We hope to report from Panama and other countries end of summer 2023.
India is planned now for winter 2023 and will be an exciting endeavor.
By the way, we are looking again for volunteers, joining us … !
Your Ocean Robotics Team
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