How Defender and Bryan Habana are helping The Litterboom Project tackle plastic pollution

Image by Casey Pratt

On Friday, 16 October, I joined Defender ambassador and former Springbok captain Bryan Habana for a behind-the-scenes look at The Litterboom Project, the South African conservation initiative recognised in Defender’s international awards. We visited sites across Cape Town to see how the project is intercepting plastic waste, protecting waterways and creating new opportunities for local communities.

From surfing to a mission against plastic pollution

For Cameron Service, CEO and founder of The Litterboom Project, the problem was impossible to ignore.

Growing up surfing in KwaZulu-Natal, Service spent much of his life around the ocean. But what struck him was not only the plastic polluting the water, but also people having to step over rubbish to reach the sea, seemingly so accustomed to the waste that it had become part of the landscape.

That observation helped inspire a different approach: instead of focusing only on cleaning up plastic once it reaches the coastline, why not intercept it earlier?

Established in 2017, The Litterboom Project began developing floating barriers to catch waste travelling through rivers before it could reach the ocean. The organisation has since expanded its work to include waste recovery, education and product innovation.

Its efforts earned it the South African winner's place in the Defenders of the Sea category of Defender's inaugural international Defender Awards.

The programme provides winning organisations with a Defender vehicle, a £100,000 bursary and expert mentorship. For The Litterboom Project, the support is intended to help teams access remote river systems, identify new interception sites and expand their conservation work.

What is a litterboom?

A litterboom is a floating barrier installed across a river to catch plastic and other floating waste before it travels downstream towards the ocean. Teams remove the trapped rubbish and sort it for recycling, further processing or appropriate disposal.

It is a relatively simple intervention, but one that tackles pollution before it becomes a bigger marine problem.

The Litterboom Project reports that it has intercepted more than 2.5 million kilograms of plastic. Its approach recognises that protecting the ocean requires action further inland, where much of the waste begins its journey.

A river divided by plastic and wildlife

During our visits to The Litterboom Project’s sites in Langa and Hazendal, Athlone, the impact of the work became much easier to understand.

At one of the sites, I could see the difference almost immediately. On one side of the litterboom, plastic and other rubbish had gathered against the floating barrier. On the other, birds were swimming in the water. It was a striking contrast: the waste was right there in front of us, while wildlife moved through the water just beyond it.

Image by Casey Pratt

Jihaad Jacobs, The Litterboom Project’s Cape Town operations manager, told us that when the team first started working in the area, they could not see wildlife there. Hearing that while standing beside the river made the scene feel even more significant. What might otherwise have looked like a simple collection of rubbish was part of a much bigger effort to protect the environment around it.

Seeing the barrier intercept plastic, with birds swimming nearby, offered a powerful illustration of why preventing waste from travelling downstream matters.

It also put the scale of the challenge into perspective. Plastic pollution often becomes visible to us only when it washes up on a beach or appears in images of marine animals caught in waste. At these sites, we could see the problem much earlier in its journey, along with the people working to stop it from going further.

The barriers are only one part of the process. Teams must remove the collected rubbish, sort the materials and determine what can be recovered or reused. But standing beside that river, the purpose behind the work was clear: protecting the ocean starts long before the waste reaches it.

Giving plastic a second life

The Litterboom Project's Innovation Hub at Rondebosch Golf Club is where the focus shifts from collecting waste to finding uses for it.

Established in 2023 through a partnership with the Mr Price Foundation and Chep, the hub explores how recovered plastic can be processed and turned into useful products.

We also watched pieces of plastic being cut down and prepared before being processed, melted and moulded into new shapes. The products include plant support stakes, coasters, keyrings, combs, hooks and spin-top toys.

What struck me most was the creativity behind the process. What had once been waste was becoming a toy, a household item or something practical for the garden. It felt like a creative outlet as much as an environmental solution, with the team finding new ways to work with the materials they had recovered.

Image by Casey Pratt

It was a reminder that tackling plastic pollution does not have to end with collecting rubbish. There is room for ingenuity, experimentation and imagination, too. By giving recovered plastic a new purpose, the Innovation Hub is not only exploring alternatives to disposal, but also creating opportunities for people to develop skills, express their creativity and see the value in what they are making.

Seeing that transformation firsthand was one of the most memorable parts of the visit. It made the idea of a circular economy feel tangible: not simply reusing materials for the sake of it, but creating something useful from a problem that might otherwise have been left behind.

To explore the range and support the project’s work, shoppers can visit the TLP Shop’s featured collection, where purchases help support plastic interception and give recovered waste a second life.

The Wastepreneurs behind the innovation

The Innovation Hub is also creating opportunities for people to develop skills and businesses through The Litterboom Project's Wastepreneur programme.

Participants receive training in plastic processing, manufacturing and product development, helping them explore opportunities in the circular economy.

The idea is to create value from recovered materials, including plastics that may have limited conventional recycling options. Developing demand for these materials can also benefit reclaimers, River Wardens and buyback centres involved in collecting and supplying waste.

The organisation reports that 16 community members have completed the programme, with six retained in employment within The Litterboom Project. Its initial pilot in 2022 also resulted in both graduates securing full-time employment on a beneficiation project.

Products made through this work are available through the TLP Shop, giving consumers and businesses a way to support products made from recovered plastic.

Purpose beyond the vehicle

Defender's support highlights how partnerships can help conservation initiatives grow, connecting practical resources with people doing important work in their communities.

The Litterboom Project's model is not a complete solution to plastic pollution. Better waste management, responsible consumption, recycling and long-term investment remain essential.

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But what stayed with me was the connection between the different parts of the project: the barriers catching rubbish, the teams protecting local waterways, and the Innovation Hub giving recovered plastic a new purpose.

Seeing that process firsthand made the impact feel much more than a statistic. It was a reminder that environmental progress is not only about removing waste, but also about changing what happens to it next.