Wildlands Conservation Trust has been one of the official Comrades charities for 12 years through their Bonitas ReLeaf Campaign, which supports a range of conservation projects around South Africa. This year Wildlands took their partnership with Comrades to the next level and made their first appearance along the Comrades Marathon route. Their presence along the route was two fold in that they were responsible for collecting and recycling all the waste within 30km’s of the start of the ultimate human race, as well as located at TABLE 9 (the ‘71km’s to go’ mark) along the route, manning 12 refreshment tables.
The Wildlands team, together with volunteers from ACT (African Conservation Trust) and Green Office made up a team of 40 people who enthusiastically set up and distributed refreshments to 19 524 runners, despite having to be bright eyed and bushy tailed at the Wildlands spot at 4am. Setting up 50 banners, 12 tables and over 3000 refreshments is not for the feint hearted, but once the area had been set up the team were geared up to quench the very real thirst of many a Comrades runner.
One Wildlands staff member received significantly more attention from the runners than everyone else…the reason being that she was dressed in a RHINO suit. Through this fun character, Nompumelelo the Rhino, Wildlands hoped to raise awareness around the endangered rhino populations as well as the rhino conservation projects that they are so actively involved in. Nompumelelo interacted with some of the participants and the rest of the volunteers enthusiastically egged the runners on with support, motivation and much needed refreshments.
When the last runner had passed through the Wildlands’ refreshment spot the cleaning up process began, and for Wildlands’ this extends further than just packing up and throwing away. Each table, between the Pietermaritzburg City Hall and Cato Ridge areas, had clearly labelled boxes for spectators and volunteers to dispose of their waste wisely. Recyclable waste streams to choose from included plastic, PET, tetrapak, cardboard, glass and cans.
To end off the cleaning process the Wildlands’ Recycling vehicles drove along the route, with a team of 33 recycling staff, including the Wildlands’ CEO Andrew Venter, collecting all the waste.
“We could have never anticipated the enormity of the Comrades Recycling Challenge that we took on,” commented Wildlands’ Recycling Initiative Manager Urvashi Haridass, “however despite the long distances and the manual collection of huge amounts of waste, the team still did the work with smiles and laughter, right until the end of our 15 hour day. I am honoured to be part of a team that looks at every challenge, exclaiming – nothing is impossible! On behalf of the Recycling Team I would also like to thank all the people that gave of their time so willingly to help us conquer the Comrades Recycling Challenge.”
The amount of waste collected within a 30km radius amounted to an astronomical 6160kgs, but the good news is that all of this waste will be recycled, thanks to Wildlands, whose main concern is building a sustainable future for all.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)