City addressing litter wash out at ‘Ons Huisie’ restaurant

25 November 2021

The City of Cape Town’s Coastal Management Department was alerted to a major wash out of litter primarily consisting of plastic and what appears to be remnants of blue Council refuse bags outside ‘Ons Huisie’ restaurant on the Blaauwberg coastline.

The department alerted the Water and Waste Department to the problem and clean-up operations began on 23 November 2021, and will continue until all litter has been removed. Some of the litter is trapped in rock pools and is only accessible at low tide. Also, given the location and extent of the litter that has to be hand-picked and bagged, the clean-up will take some time.

The litter has not been dumped at this location, but has washed out from the ocean. Litter, especially plastics, can raft or clump together when in the sea. These agglomerations of plastics can then wash ashore at a single location. This could be due to the current prevailing strong south-easterly wind, and other factors.

The source of the litter is unknown to the City. It is possible that it originally washed down and out a river during the last big rainfall event about 11 days ago and has been floating at sea until costal conditions washed it ashore at ‘Ons Huisie’ in Blaauwberg.

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office

coastal Beach Bloubergstrand