GRAB YOUR hats and plastic bags people! It's beach clean-up time again! All right, so it doesn't sound that exciting. But think about it, last year's project for International Beach Clean-up Day reaped 350 bags of garbage weighing over 8000 pounds.
For the 12th consecutive year, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) has designated the Palisadoes beach strip as the site for its Beach Clean-up. They hold this event every year to observe International Coastal Clean-up Day. This year, the event will take place on Saturday, September 17.
JET has been cleaning the Palisadoes strip for 11 years. Last year's activity was supported by over 550 volunteers who cleaned five kilometres of the Palisadoes strip. As in previous years, those pesky plastics dominated the items collected.
HUMAN IMPACT
"Most of the marine debris was generated by human activities, which amazes people, as many persons are not aware of the impact they have on the marine environment," Carlette Falloon, JET's programme director. She went on further to say, "This is why JET is focusing more on the educational aspect of the activity this year. Everyone who is participating in this year's clean-up will have to attend a training workshop on September 15. Persons will be asked to bring their own drinking containers for water, as although JET recycles all the PET bottles that are collected on the day, we do not want the clean-up to
generate extra waste."
The 2004 beach clean-up activities in Jamaica were coordinated by 13 organisations and supported by 1,680 volunteers who cleaned 18km of coastline.
The Palisadoes strip beach clean-up this year is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Airports Authority of Jamaica, National Environmental Societies Trust (NEST), NEM Insurance Company and other members of corporate Jamaica.
International Coastal Clean-up Day is now in its 20 year and is coordinated internationally by The Ocean Conservancy. Last year's activities were supported by over 300,000 volunteers in more than 88 countries.
Interested persons should call the Jamaica Environment Trust at 960-3693 for more information.
