JEMS & St. Clair Dacon Secondary take part in Int’l clean-up campaign

In spite of the inclement weather, members of the South East Development Incorporated, Jems Progressive Community Organization and the St, Clair Dacon Secondary School came out in their numbers last Saturday for the International Coastal clean-up campaign.{{more}}

The groups gathered at the Stubbs beach and began two hours of cleaning, ridding the beach of plastics, bottles and other debris. At the end of the exercise, they had collected 4,800 lbs of garbage.

National Co-ordinator Andrew Simmons said the campaign, which takes place in about 120 countries, seeks to keep the coastline much cleaner.

This, he said, is “part of trying to make SVG a better place.” Simmons said the hope is to clean 90 per cent of the beaches in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The campaign, which is islandwide, collected 15,000 lbs of garbage over 12.8 miles of coast line last year, an achievement they are hoping to surpass this year.

Simmons told Searchlight that all the garbage collected on the island will be tallied and checked then placed into groups. The group will then make summary cards for the month long campaign, which will be sent off to Washington DC to be entered into an international database.

Simmons noted that with the impact of climatic changes it is hoped that persons will start to develop positive habits and not leave their garbage on the beaches when they use them. “You go on the beach; when you are ready to leave you pack your things inside your bag, take them home or to the closest garbage receptacle,” the internationally respected environmentalist said.

Simmons termed the Stubbs clean-up as a success and thanked the persons who came out despite the weather. He also thanked the business houses for their support. (VM)