Newsboyphil Reporting from Kingston, Jamaica

Three hundred and thirty-six volunteers from 22 schools and 21 organisations, including community groups and the private sector, participated in the Jamaica Environment Trust's (JET) 12th annual beach clean-up held  last Saturday September 17, 2005 at the Palisadoes strip in Kingston.

Volunteers collected about 280 bags of garbage, which included approximately 3,000 PET bottles. The activity was held to mark International Coastal Clean-Up Day, the largest one-day volunteer event of its kind supported this year by roughly 500,000 volunteers from more than 60 countries worldwide.

The Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup is the most successful volunteer event of its kind.  Each year, thousands of volunteers from around the globe particpate, clearing tons of trash from coastlines, rivers and lakes and recording every peice of trash collected. This is the 20th anniversary of the event.

On the north coast of the island of Jamaica employees from Sandals and Beaches hotels carried out coastal clean-ups particularly in areas that have become severely polluted by human waste and improper disposal habits. Dive teams from the Negril and Montego Bay resorts assisted environmental groups such as the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society and the Coral Reef Alliance to rid the ocean floor of as much refuse as possible, while other team members worked along the coastline to collect all garbage and waste.

The focus in Negril this year was on fishing villages where over 100 garbage bags of debris were collected. In fact, the Negril Alliance, comprising Sandals Negril Beach Resort & Spa, Beaches Negril, Beaches Sandy Bay and Negril Gardens, converged on the Negril Fishing Village where residents actually live on the river's edge.

In the aftermath Sandals Resorts International in sync with the Negril Coral Reef Society and the Negril Chamber of Commerce is looking at organising some training sessions with residents about proper waste disposal and environmental preservation as an economic benefit. Additionally, there are plans to build public sanitary facilities for the residents to help them protect their economic mainstay.

Its good to see businesses and not just social groups take part in coastal clean up, every global citizen need to have a conscience as the Environment could surely benefit from more clean up days.

http://www.coastalcleanup.org/