Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 24 July 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# The Department of Water and Sanitation says government is focusing on investing in additional national water resource infrastructure. Building awareness of the need to use water sparingly, and improving municipal water and sanitation services are also some of government’s focus. The department’s spokesperson, Wisane Mavasa, says good progress has been made in unblocking and accelerating delayed infrastructure projects:

# Working on Fire will deploy over 200 firefighters and 15 managers to Canada tomorrow to combat Level 5 wildfires in Alberta. This marks South Africa’s sixth deployment to assist the country. It is believed that climate change has intensified heat waves, causing nearly three-thousand-600 blazes and burning 2.2-million hectares already this year. The wildfires, now 12-kilometres from Jasper National Park’s townsite, has forced 25-thousand evacuations and camping cancellations until August 6.

# And, Cape Town-based company Fortis X has offered a solution to South Africa’s waste crisis, with Africa’s first biodegradable and recyclable packaging, made entirely from plants. An estimated 122-million tons of waste is produced annually in South Africa, however, only ten-percent of it is recycled, with the other 90-percent discarded in landfills. Fortis X director Nicholas de Beer says their biodegradable bottles not only contribute to reducing plastic waste but also address a significant aspect of water conservation, and plastic pollution in oceans and water bodies.

Stay tuned for more news………….