Meet 'Save A Fishie' founder Zoë Prinsloo, environmental powerhouse cleaning beaches from Port Nolloth to Richards Bay
Prinsloo says most items gathered during beach clean-ups are plastics such as lollipop sticks and calls on manufacturers to switch to paper.
CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Zoë Prinsloo, founder of Save A Fishie.
Listen below:
Prinsloo's journey into environmental activism started a few years ago after she saw a viral video of a sea turtle with a plastic drinking straw embedded in its nose, and she embarked on a quest to find eco-friendly alternatives for plastic items such as straws, cotton buds, or lollipops.
Then, noticing the litter on beaches, Prinsloo started an initiative to clean up beaches on her own, just 10 years old, joining other cleanup groups along the way.
At 16, Prinsloo joined a Girl Guides group and went on to form her organisation after she picked up a bag full of seawater that had a fish swimming about in it on her local beach. Hence the name 'Save a Fishie'.
So far, Prinsloo has cleaned over 380 beaches and collected more than 37 tonnes of litter.
She holds the record for the longest endurance beach cleanup, which lasted 27 hours.
At the end of April, Prinsloo represented South Africa at the '10th Our Ocean Conference' as a speaker.
For her work, impact, and dedication, Prinsloo has been recognised locally and globally.
She has received international recognition at the United Nations Youth Climate Summit in New York and was listed in the top 100 of Africa’s Youth Conversation Leaders.
The Mayor of Cape Town, Rotary International, and newspapers across the country have also written about Prinsloo's work.
Her latest project, in its third year, involves a seven-week beach clean-up campaign which started on 17 May and ends on 5 July along the South African coastline while raising awareness about the environment in communities.
Prinsloo and the team will travel up the West Coast from Cape Town to Port Nolloth, crossing the country via the Hennops and Jukskei Rivers and then down the East Coast from Richards Bay back to Cape Town.
She says the most items gathered during beach clean-ups are plastics, such as lollipop sticks and calls on manufacturers to switch from plastic to paper for an environmentally sustainable alternative.
"I've been cleaning Milnerton Lagoon now for six, seven years... plastics, single-use earbud sticks, lollipop sticks, bottle tops... we see it everywhere, not just Lagoon beach... It's insane the amount that has gathered."
- Zoë Prinsloo, Founder - Save A Fishie
Prinsloo calls on lollipop manufacturers to switch from plastic sticks to paper to have less of a detrimental impact on the environment.
If you would like to make a financial contribution to Prinsloo's organisation, you can do so directly via EFT:
- Save a Fishie NPC
- First National Bank
- Acc # 630 459 46605
- Branch code: 200-410)
Or via the organisation's Back-a-Buddy account.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.