Creating a better tomorrow

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) is leading extensive beach and river clean-ups across the African continent this month as part of the International Coastal Clean-up initiative to remove plastic waste from the environment and raise awareness of the need to recycle.

Teams of volunteers supported by CCBA have rallied across Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia to collect plastic waste.

More than 35 years ago, communities joined together to gather and document the trash along their coastlines. This was the beginning of the International Coastal Clean-up initiative. The entire globe observes it.

Solve the problem

International Coastal Clean-Up Day, which is always held on the third Saturday in September, is the largest coastal clean-up event ever.



"Food and beverage packaging is an important part of our modern lives, yet the world has a packaging problem, which we as CCBA, together with The Coca-Cola Company, have a responsibility to help solve," said Tshidi Ramogase, CCBA chief public affairs, communication and sustainability officer.



Ramogase added that the clean-ups support cultural changes around littering and recycling, promote environmentally friendly waste-management practices, and inspire recycling in communities across the continent.



In Namibia, Coastal Clean-Up Day falls on the same day as the national clean-up day, supported not only by the environment ministry but also the entire nation.



Over the course of September, the CCBA will do clean-ups in Windhoek, Otjiwarongo, Keetmanshoop, Walvis Bay, and Oshakati.

National initiatives

Clean-ups are taking place in Enseleni, Richards Bay, Durban, Gqeberha, East London, and Port Shepstone in South Africa.

In order to clean-up Laboma Beach in Ghana, the CCBA subsidiary Voltic collaborated with a recycling business and the University of Ghana Plastic Recycling Project.

In Zambia, CCBA partnered with the Siavonga city council to conduct a clean-up exercise at Lake Kariba. In Ethiopia, CCBA joined forces with a youth-led organisation called Green Rotaract Concept and cleaned up the Little Akaki River in Addis Ababa.

In addition to organising a volunteer clean-up, the team in Mozambique also hosted a session with renowned environmentalist Carlos Serra to raise awareness of the need for development.

By collaborating with the Coca-Cola Company, which in 2018 announced the sustainable packaging campaign World without Waste, CCBA hopes to assist to solve the world's packaging crisis.

By 2030, CCBA wants to assist in the collection of a bottle or can for each product sold, make all of its packaging recyclable, containing 50% recycled material, and make 25% of it reusable.