Community cleans up Tokai library grounds
Tokai Neighbourhood Crime Watch (TNCW) held a community garden clean-up at Tokai library on Saturday.
It was organised by watch committee member Doreen Pears and attracted about 10 people.
The watch uses an outbuilding at the library as an office.
The clean-up attended to overgrown grass and weeds around the library and inside the library garden.
Resident Sharyn Dabbs, who took part in the clean-up, said she spent a lot of time clearing litter from her neighbourhood near Pollsmoor prison and collected a black bag full every week.
“We need to take care of where we live. It takes nothing to be able to live without litter,” she said.
A garden service usually cleans the grounds once per quarter, according to mayoral committee member for community services and health Patricia van der Ross.
She vowed that the Tokai library would not go the same way as the Plumstead branch, which the City plans to close (“Plumstead Library to close,” Bulletin, January 20).
“Tokai is in premises owned by the City and not a rented space like Plumstead” she said.
Ward councillor Carolynne Franklin, who attended the clean-up, said the Tokai Residents’ Association had also donated to a maintenance programme for the library precinct.
The outbuilding that the TNCW uses as an office also serves as a collection point for Barefoot Rescue, Aid for Animals in Distress and other NGOs.
Ms Pears said unused and broken electrical appliances, could be dropped there every Wednesday, from 10am to 1pm, and on the first Saturday of the month, from 9am to 12pm. Larger items, such as dishwashers, washing machines, can be collected.
Tracy Stallard, a director of Xchange Connexion, a Tokai-based company that does community outreach work, said they passed old appliances to a Westlake businessman who checked to see if they still worked and could be sold. “If they’re not working, the items are repaired to be sold. Items that can’t be fixed are broken down for parts and the remaining pieces are sent to the landfill,” she said.
Some of the money raised from the sale of these items is donated by Xchange Connexion to a non-profit, SOUL (Sharing Our Ubuntu Legacy) and to recycling and feeding schemes in Westlake.
