Horrifying footage has emerged showing the moment a huge wave of plastic waste landed on a litter-strewn beach in South Africa.
The plastic wave crashed onto already contaminated land from polluted water at a spot near Durban, which is the third biggest city in the country.
Filmed by Josh Redman, the clip shoes hundreds of plastic water bottles being thrown around choppy water as it’s washed onto the beach, which is already strewn with litter.
Check out the video here:
Speaking about the footage, Josh said:
This is the result of our big summer rains flushing out all the pollution that had build up on riverbanks over our dry season which is our Winter.
This has happened time and time again and our government are not dealing with it as the crisis it is.
There need to be some international pressure put on them to work towards a solution because trying to get something done from ground level here in South Africa is impossible.
Redman goes on to explain the video was filmed at Durban’s main river mouth, adding ‘it is also the biggest contributor of plastic pollution into the ocean in South Africa’.
At this stage it’s unknown whether the local government has taken any action against the disposal of rubbish in the area.
The Port of Durban was covered in rubbish and plastic waste earlier in the year after heavy flooding washed it into the city.
Footage taken from a cruise ship showed the sea was no longer visible as a result of the mass of debris, wood and plastic that had washed up.
A major clean up headed by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) began in following weeks to remove the huge volume of waste from the port.
Acting port manager Nokuzola said adverse weather had caused the unusual amount of plastic and debris to flow into the port just days after World Earth Day in April.
Back in May, Sir David Attenborough described the world’s plastic pollution as an ‘unfolding catastrophe’, saying our waste is killing someone every 30 seconds.
In a report led by charity Tearfund and backed by Sir David, it’s claimed single-use plastic being shipped across the world by wealthy countries like Britain could be contributing to millions of deaths each year.
The report continues to say children playing around plastic waste are twice as likely to get intestinal bugs like cholera, which is said to be the biggest killer in children under the age of five.
According to the report, a double-decker busload of plastic waste is burned or dumped in developing countries every second, while every 30 seconds the UK throws away 2 double-decker busloads of plastic waste.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.