Evian leads Wickie Wackie Beach clean-up
Published:Saturday | June 23, 2018 | 12:00 AMCorey Robinson
Dozens of buried diapers were among a mountain of garbage plucked from the Wickie Wackie Beach in Bull Bay, St Andrew, yesterday, as Chas E. Ramson Limited, distributor of Evian Water, and the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) through its 'NUH DUTTY UP Jamaica' staged a beach clean-up at the popular surfing site yesterday.
More than 30 volunteers - armed with hats and gloves - combed the beach between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., removing bags and bags of plastic bottles and other debris from a section of the beach which was no more than 200 metres.
The volunteers said that the diapers were wrapped in plastic bags and buried in the sand - apparently a method of disposal for residents of the nearby Wickie Wackie and Ocean Lake communities.
The beach clean-up followed a donation from Evian of $50,000 to JET in support of its mission to protect Jamaica's natural resources.
"Wickie Wackie Beach was chosen because of the whole history of surfing that this beach has," said Chas E. Ramson Brand Manager Phillip Keane-Dawes.
"So, today, we have teams out there collecting the waste, separating the plastics from the regular garbage. The National Solid Waste Management Authority came on board, and will dispose of the garbage free of cost for us," said Keane-Dawes, as he pointed to the bags of debris collected from the beach.
He said that Evian is determined to leverage its global voice to drive consumer behaviour change around plastic waste and recycling.
Right Start for Evian
"Being environmentally responsible is becoming much more important to us all, especially with whom we do business today and in the future. Helping to remove waste from the coastline will definitely be the right start for Evian in achieving its goal of reducing plastic waste," added Keane-Dawes.
Managing Director at Chas E. Ramson, Phillip Ramson, endorsed the project.
"I totally support this beach clean-up which was an initiative from Evian International who are our partners, and as such we, and our employees, are more than willing to take on this social responsibility as we support initiatives to take care of our environment," said Ramson.