Rethink The Stink

11/06/2026

Total lack of accountability in Gauteng.

Three of the City of Johannesburg’s wastewater treatment works are responsible for approximately 90 million litres of untreated sewage entering rivers each day.

08/06/2026

Today, on World Ocean Day, with its focus on "Strong Marine Protected Areas for Our Blue Planet", let us celebrate and treasure Cape Town's beautiful, biodiverse, and internationally recognised underwater kelp forests illustrated on this cover.

But let us not forget that more than 35 million litres per day of raw sewage, containing disease-causing microorganisms, microplastics, and chemicals, are discharged daily by the City of Cape Town into these very Marine Protected Areas despite dumping of any waste being prohibited under the Marine Protected Areas Act.

RethinkTheStink again calls on the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment ( DFFE) to fulfil its mandate to protect our marine environment and fisheries by imposing conditions in the Coastal Waters Discharge Permits, currently still under review, that require sewage to be treated to at least tertiary level before discharge.

While the City continues to evaluate options, we ask that it make a public commitment to treating these discharges, with clear timelines and budgets. Our oceans deserve nothing else.

06/06/2026

While any recycling effort is welcome, 28,000 kg shared among 5 million people amounts to little more than a teaspoon per person. It's a start, but hardly reflects the scale of action needed in a major city that has claimed to be tackling the problem for decades. Notably, there is also no mention of the time period over which this "teaspoon" was collected, making it difficult to assess the true impact of the programme.

♻️ More than 28 000kg of recyclable material has already been diverted from landfill through the City's community recycling initiative.

With the support of residents, volunteers and recycling champions across Cape Town, valuable materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal are being recovered, helping to reduce waste, support cleaner communities and grow the recycling economy.

This World Environment Day, thank you to everyone making a difference through recycling.

Read more: https://brnw.ch/21x38G9

05/06/2026

05/06/2026

Why did Penguin Fred wash up at Lagoon Beach in Cape Town?

Was he hungry because there were too few fish to eat after years of pollution impacting an estuary where fish breed and grow? Was he sick from swimming in polluted water? Did he mistake a piece of plastic for food and swallow it?

It could have been any of these. It could have been all of them. Or it could have been something else entirely. We will probably never know.

What we do know is that every time sewage spills into our rivers, wetlands and ocean, and every time plastic pollution enters the environment, it makes life a little harder for creatures already struggling to survive.

The African penguin is now critically endangered. Every bird matters.

Penguin George is a reminder that what we flush down our toilets doesn't just disappear. Wet wipes, sanitary pads and nappies block sewers, causing overflows that pollute the waters that fish, seabirds and countless other animals depend on.

The choices we make in our homes can have consequences all the way downriver and out to sea.

If we want a future where African penguins still waddle along our shores, we need to stop avoidable sewage pollution today.

Only flush the 3 P's: P*e, Poo and Paper.
🐧💙 Because every penguin counts.

05 June 2026

04/06/2026

Please see invitation to attend the Milnerton Lagoon Public Meeting,Wednesday, 24 June 2026 Time: 18:00 – 20:00

There is also an opportunity for community members to attend a site visit to the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW)
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Dear Resident/Stakeholder,

You are kindly invited to save the date for the upcoming Milnerton Lagoon Public Meeting, which will be held as a hybrid session (with both in-person and online participation options available):

(subject to logistical confirmation)
Date: Wednesday, 24 June 2026.
Time: 18:00 – 20:00

Further details regarding the venue and online access will be shared closer to the date.

In addition, community members who are interested in attending a site visit to the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) are encouraged to RSVP.

The purpose of the site visit is to provide an opportunity to physically observe the ongoing construction upgrades, which have been presented and discussed during previous public meetings.

Please note the following important information regarding the site visit:

Date of site visit: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
RSVP deadline: Friday, 12 June 2026
To RSVP, please send your:
Name:
Surname:
Time slot:
To: [email protected]

Two site visit time slots are available:
09h00 to 10h00
10:30 – 11:30

Each time slot is limited to 25 Residents/Stakeholders - Due to safety protocols, all delegates will be required to undergo a safety induction on-site prior to the site walk.
No persons under the age of 18 will be permitted to attend.
Safety gear (vests, helmets, and toe caps) will be provided.
Residents/Stakeholders are required to wear closed, comfortable shoes: no high heels or pumps.
It is recommended that attendees dress warmly.

We look forward to your participation and continued engagement.

Kind regards,

Communications and Partnerships Branch

Water and Sanitation Directorate

Email: [email protected]

CCT Web | Contacts | Media | Report a fault | Accounts

04/06/2026

If you observe ongoing pollution that local government is not addressing adequately, report it to the Western Cape DEA&DP ("Green Scorpions") and include all available evidence — photos, videos, dates, locations and previous reference numbers to aid their investigators .

Have you seen illegal dumping, pollution, or damage to natural areas? You can make a difference by reporting it.

📞 24-hour toll-free hotline: 0800 205 005
📧 Email: [email protected]

Let’s protect our environment together 💚

04/06/2026

02/06/2026

Want to be part of the solution? Leave a better world for your grandchildren ?

The 12 Rs of recycling* to cover more zero-waste habits:

1. *Refuse* - Say no to stuff you don’t need. Freebies, straws, junk mail.
2. *Reduce* - Buy less + use less.
3. *Reuse* - Use things again instead of tossing.
4. *Regift* - Pass along stuff you won’t use to someone who will.
5. *Repurpose* - Get creative. Tin can → pen holder.
6. *Repair* - Fix it instead of replacing it.
7. *Rot* - Compost food scraps + yard waste.
8. *Rethink* - Question your habits. Do you actually need it?
9. *Refill* - Use refill stations for soap, detergent, water.
10. *Return* - Send items back to manufacturers. Some brands take back packaging.
11. *Recycle* - Turn waste into new products.
12. *Recover* - Extract energy/materials from waste that can’t be recycled.

Basically: start at Refuse

Reduce at the top, and Recycle/Recover are last resorts.

02/06/2026

"Forests, rivers, animals and ecosystems are not inert resources awaiting human use; they’re participants in a vast community of life whose processes sustain the conditions for existence. They, like we do, have rights."

“We can no longer hear the voice of the rivers, the mountains, or the sea,” Thomas Berry .

Perhaps what we no longer hear, we do not protect?

The idea that nature has rights is slowly unfolding within progressive legal circles like a Namaqua daisy in the first light of spring. At its root are the insights of an extraordinary thinker, Thomas…