The good people at Jamaica Environment Trust seem very happy with Saturday’s International Coastal Cleanup Day. Here is their initial overview – a detailed breakdown from all the cleanup sites will follow.
September 21, 2016
On Saturday, September 17th the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) led 98 groups to stage over 140 beach cleanups across the island marking International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day 2016. An estimated 9,000 Jamaicans volunteered their time and efforts to clean beaches and waterways across the island on ICC Day this year. Started in 1985 by the U.S.-based NGO the Ocean Conservancy, International Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest one day volunteer event in the world, taking place in over 100 countries annually. JET is the National Coordinator of ICC activities in Jamaica, which have been funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund since 2008. Last year, Jamaica ranked as having the 14th largest ICC volunteer turnout in the world, and the largest in the English-speaking Caribbean.
In 2016, the biggest cleanups were coordinated by JET on the Palisadoes Strip in Kingston; by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which partnered with the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to clean up the Hellshire coastline in St Catherine; and by the Montego Bay Marine Park Trust (MBMPT), which partnered with the Rotary Club of Montego Bay to clean the coastline of Jamaica’s second city. Over 2,500 volunteers assisted JET in their flagship cleanup on the Palisadoes, and over 1,000 volunteers attended both the NEPA/UDC and MBMP/Rotary Montego Bay cleanups.
“We are awaiting the data from the other 140 cleanup sites which we expect to come in over the next few weeks,” said Suzanne Stanley, JET Deputy CEO. “The volunteer turnout and effort this year has been exceptional and is truly encouraging.”
JET’s flagship cleanup on the Palisadoes was sponsored by TEF and Recycling Partners of Jamaica, along with in-kind support from several other corporate sponsors. The JET cleanup included three main sites, the Fort Rocky Beach, end of the stone revetment and the Port Royal main road in the vicinity of the end of the airport runway. Initial estimates suggest over 1,000 bags of garbage were removed from those sites, weighing an estimated 16,000 pounds. Special guests at the JET flagship cleanup were Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Clyde Harrison, Executive Director, TEF and Allison Schutes, Senior Manager of the Trash Free Seas Program at the Ocean Conservancy who was attending a Jamaican beach cleanup for the first time.
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