Bottles, Tyres, and Even a Mattress Collected At Save a Fishie’s 520th Beach Cleanup After Floods

520 cleanups (and counting) and an overall 57 tonnes of trash removed for Cape Town’s beaches, Zoe and her incredible Save a Fishie volunteers did a really big thing this... The post Bottles, Tyres, and Even a Mattress Collected At Save a Fishie’s 520th Beach Cleanup After Floods appeared first on Good Things Guy.

May 20, 2026 - 16:14

Bottles, Tyres, and Even a Mattress Collected At Save a Fishie’s 520th Beach Cleanup After Floods

520 cleanups (and counting) and an overall 57 tonnes of trash removed for Cape Town’s beaches, Zoe and her incredible Save a Fishie volunteers did a really big thing this past Saturday, and we’re joining them in celebrating their monumental milestones!

Milnerton, South Africa (20 May 2026) – The storm came in hard last week, and as predicted by Save a Fishie’s Zoe Prinsloo, it washed up a lot of litter and a mixed pile of debris onto the shore.

“Thankfully, it stayed there long enough for us to remove it before it returned to the ocean,” Zoe shared in a recent post.

Armed with bags and with determined hearts, Zoe and a group of 20 volunteers gathered for a beach cleanup at Lagoon Beach in Milnerton on Saturday – a group effort she described as nothing short of incredible!

“We achieved what honestly felt impossible. Not only did we give the beach a major clean-up after the recent washup, but we also smashed through two huge milestones in one morning!”

The group uncovered an astonishing amount of waste, including hundreds of nappies – well over 200 – shoes, clothing, plastic bottles, tyres, stuffed animals, a blanket and even a bed mattress!

“The team worked unbelievably hard today, and every single volunteer gave it their all.”

This weekend wasn’t just another day at the beach; it marked Save a Fishie’s 520th cleanup!

“Five hundred and twenty cleanups of protecting our coastline, removing pollution, raising awareness and showing up for our oceans no matter the weather, the tides or the conditions,” Zoe said.

And even more impressive, the cleanup crew was able to collect a heap of litter, bringing the organisation’s total of collected litter to 57 tonnes since Save a Fishie began.

By the end of Saturday morning, the trash bags weighed a jaw-dropping 964kg – just 1 tonne away from the ultimate 57 tonne goal.

“Now obviously we couldn’t stop there… not when we were so close to 1 TONNE in a single cleanup! So, a few volunteers headed back out again because, unbelievably, more litter had already washed up in the meantime. That got us to just 14kg short. So off we went AGAIN, this time in the opposite direction, and yes… WE DID IT,” an excited Zoe confirmed.

The day’s entire effort came to a final total of 1,009kg of trash collected in just over an hour – reaching 57 tonnes of waste removed overall, all achieved with only around 20 volunteers on the 520^th cleanup!

“And here’s the part that makes me especially proud: at least six of today’s volunteers were over the age of 50 and three were over 70 years old!”

A truly incredible feat, achieved by a truly amazing team.

Zoe extended her heartfelt thanks to Plastics|SA for their contribution of strong yellow cleanup bags, and to aQuellé for keeping the hard-working volunteers hydrated.