The Litterboom Project: Intercepting Plastic Before It Reaches the Ocean

Founded by Cameron Service in 2017 on Durban's uMngeni River, The Litterboom Project pioneered river-interception in South Africa, anchoring floating barriers across polluted rivers to catch surface plastic before it washes out to sea. The project now runs booms across 10 rivers — eight in KwaZulu-Natal and two in the Western Cape — removing roughly 50 tonnes of waste nationally every month. It has intercepted over 2.5 million kilograms of plastic since launching, employing local river and coastal clean-up crews for whom the work is often a first formal job. A companion 'Wastepreneur' programme trains participants to turn recovered plastic into sellable products, building a path toward self-employment.