Young people clean-up Mataniko River coastal

Resilience Innovation and Social Change Club (RISC-GC) has conducted a coastal cleanup in front of the Mataniko river on Saturday 17th September 2022 to mark the International Coastal Clean up day.

The cleanup event involves 26 young people between the age 14 – 31 both male and female from the community of Tuvaruhu and was led by RISC-GC President Ms. Bethlyn Bobby. The International Coastal Cleanup Day 2022 marks 36 years of coastal cleanup and is coordinated by the International Coastal Cleanup Association and in partnership with the Sustainable Waste Action in the Pacific (SWAP), Pacific Ocean Litter Project (POLP) and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP).

A huge amount of trash has been collected, sorted and weighed during the cleanup event. Out of the sorted trash collected, plastic bottles will be used to recycle into eco pavement bricks, one of the innovative initiatives which RISC-GC is currently working on.

Speaking on behalf of the RISC-GC, the president Ms Bobby expressed concerns on how the Mataniko river mouth is littered with all sorts of rubbish. The rubbish accumulated on the Mataniko river mouth is from years of rubbish dumping from communities living along the Mataniko river and causing great danger to the marine ecosystem of that area as well as people living at the river mouth.

Ms. Bethlyn is calling on the people living along the Mataniko river to stop the practice of using the Mataniko river a dumping site for throwing rubbish as it poses a direct threat to the people as well as our marine environment.

The president further calls on the Ministry of Environment and the HCC environmental Division to work together with youths living at the Mataniko coastal area as well as those living in communities living along the Mataniko river to ensure the environment is clean through awareness, trainings and resource mobilization.

RISC-GC being a community based registered organization located at Tuvaruhu community is ready to partner with the authorities, stakeholders and developing partners to ensure Honiara and our environment is clean through innovative approaches.

RISC-GC Acknowledges SPREP through the Ministry of Environment focal point to make it possible for them to be part of this very important event.

RISC-GC press release