Victory over garbage

Several groups in the Arnos Vale/Cane Hall community combined their energies on September 22 to ensure that the waterway and coastline reflected conditions conducive to comfortable human use.{{more}}

The groups were responding to the global call of the International Coastal Clean-up initiative, an annual activity aimed at ridding waterways and coastlines of unwanted garbage.

The Solid Waste Management Unit of the Central Water and Sewage Authority leads the local clean-up call each year.

Several groups responded with clean-up activities on mainland St Vincent, as well as in the Grenadines.

The Upper Cane Hall Community group undertook the cleaning of the waterfall and pool known as “Slew Down”, at the back of the Upper Cane Hall Village.

The activity involved cutting grass and cleaning overhanging branches leading to and around the pool and waterfall, as well as collecting and burning items considered garbage in the area used as a picnic area and also as a site of interest by taxi operators and visitors.

Combined, the material collected totalled 2,500 pounds.

The Coastal Clean-up was centred on the Great Head Bay (Arnos Vale Beach), where members of the Arnos Vale Education, Sports and Cultural Organisation (AVESCO), the Calvary Baptist Church (Arnos Vale) and students and a teacher of the West St George Secondary School pooled their energies to rid that beach of 12,000 pounds, or two skips, of a wide range of garbage items.

The volunteers included persons from Grenada, Carriacou, Dominica, and Haiti.

The clean-up activities for both events took the groups just over five hours, during which they were provided with refreshments and a meal, thanks to SOL.

The 60 participants will be presented with certificates of participation in this wonderful humanitarian activity compliments the Area Representative Cecil McKie and the Central Water and Sewerage Authority.

This is the third year of participation by groups in the Arnos Vale/Cane Hall area in this annual clean-up event.

The National Clean-up initiative also included the collection of white goods by the Solid Waste Management Unit in September.