Durban — Empty, half full or full. That was the description of the antiretroviral (ARV) drug bottles that were collected in a recent clean-up in Durban.
This was according to Denise Ann Mc Creadie, who posted on the Clean Blue Lagoon Facebook page on Thursday afternoon that while she was late for the Clean Blue Lagoon event on Saturday, and a few people got lost, the good news was that they eventually found them, and everyone did a fantastic job.
Mc Creadie said that when she arrived Janet from Adopt-a-River asked her to keep aside any ARV bottles of medicine she found during her cleaning, specifically the blue and white bottles.
“I have picked up a lot of medical waste in my time (pills, creams, injections, Covid-19 tests, condoms, drip bags and bandages), so it was not a big surprise that it was there,” Mc Creadie said.
She added that while looking for a spot to clean, she noticed that she was not the only one looking for the blue and white bottles, and the bottles were quickly starting to line up.
“So armed with my mission to separate ARV bottles I started my beach clean. It did not take long to find them or to become horrified that most of them still had pills in – except for the ones that didn’t have lids on! And the missing pills had probably dissolved into the river for the fish and wildlife to consume,” Mc Creadie said.
“In the 1.5 hours that I was there, I personally picked up four big rubbish bags full of ARVs, and when I left I noticed that Janet’s mission had led to a huge mountain of bags filled with bottles and pills. But the sad part is that we did not even make a dent in the number of pills that are still there.
“I can't help thinking why companies spend millions to hand these pills out to HIV patients (for free) for them to be dumped in the river to feed the fish – which someone is going to feed to their children.”
Mc Creadie made a note to herself for the next time she felt like eating fish. She said it was amazing how if you focused on one item of litter, how much you could actually find.
“Maybe next month we should focus on the hundreds of Covid-19 tests that are still floating down the river,” Mc Creadie said.
She also thanked all the eco-warriors who came out to help.
Mc Creadie added that they would be at the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve every third Saturday of the month, and everyone was welcome.
Adopt-a-River thanked Mc Creadie for sharing the story.
Adopt-a-River said that what began as a topic of discussion at the US Embassy in South Africa, the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief event triggered an action at the next clean-up.
“We look to organisations to help solve this crisis, both environmentally and health-related.”
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