The active residents of Ottawa were eager to join millions of volunteers, government officials and organisations in tackling the global waste crisis during the World Clean-up Day initiative on Saturday, 17 September.
While many less affluent areas are often neglected in general upkeep, the community of Ottawa have taken it upon themselves to clean-up their neighbourhood. The drive, headed by the facilitator of the Ottawa Environmental Forum, Andisha Maharaj, saw the community gather in support for a cleaner, healthier environment.
“Ottawa is very untidy. If we, as residents, don’t get onto the roads and do the cleaning ourselves it would be a complete stink pit. Along the main roads we have a lot of loiterers who are constantly littering. The liquor outlets don’t assist us much either as those who loiter get their alcohol and cigarettes and discard their bottles on the side of the road,” said Maharaj.
She said rate-paying residents do their best to ensure that the community stays clean by cleaning up the area outside their homes and are always prepared to assist with campaigns. Maharaj said this initiative was in line with World Clean-up Day.
“We want to clean up the area as the community is tired of seeing their neighbourhood decline in such a way,” Maharaj said.
The group managed to clean the stretch on Old Main Road, from Rani’s fishshop to Ottawa Fisheries, and 18 bags of refuse were filled. Maharaj said: “I’d like to stress on the point that most of the litter is generated by men. The litter we picked up were cigarette packs and butts, alcohol bottles and chips packets. That is truly ridiculous. We need to change the culture of our people. One cannot just eat their food and discard the container wherever they are. However, another issue we face is a lack of public bins provided in the area,” she said.
Following the success of the clean-up, the team will be moving on to work their magic along Ohlanga River. “However this would require a lot more support and planning. We find that after every storm there is a huge build up of litter against the pillars of bridges and nobody cleans that. We need other communities to share the vision of a safer and cleaner environment and inculcate a culture of clean living among our people,” Maharaj said.
Naaz Mukthar, an Ottawa resident of 16 years, said the true decline of a community starts with the lack of volunteers and active service helpers. Shee said: ”Litter can be avoided anywhere if everyone takes responsibility for their actions. You are never too little, too young or too old to be noticed. Lets hope this encourages more people to create a clean up in all areas.”
Mukthar hailed the initiative by residents as a tremendous success. “It was a great day out in the sun with the kids and other volunteers, not forgetting getting cheered for being an ‘environmental super hero’ by every passerby. Well done to everyone that made this day possible,” she said.
